


Fickle Fate

by ANarrativeCloud



Series: Fickle Fate [1]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alive!But-not-necessarily-nice!Neah, Alternate Universe, BAMF Neah, Gen, Gray Morality, Manga Revamp, No Bashing, OOCness, Present Tense, Series of FIclets Format
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2016-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-13 17:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3390599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANarrativeCloud/pseuds/ANarrativeCloud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"A name?" Neah says in askance, his skin, a sickly ashen pallor.</i>
</p><p> <i>"Yes." Allen confirms. "You don't have real surnames, do you?"</i></p><p>  <i>Mana thinks. "We just took on what Cornelia told us were our last names since we didn't know who our parents really were…"</i></p><p>  <i>"I don’t want to find any other family. They’ve abandoned us anyway, if they do exist, that is." Neah replies petulantly.</i></p><p>  <i>Allen laughs.</i></p><p>  <i>“Well, okay then.”</i></p><p>  <i>“Walker!” Neah says in epiphany.</i></p><p>  <i>“Uh—Yes?” Allen replies, a little startled.</i></p><p>  <i>“No, not you!” Neah laughs, and Mana seemed like he realized something. “I mean the surname.”</i></p><p>  <i>“Eh..?”</i></p><p>  <i>“Mana and Neah Walker. Huh. Catchy.” </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Word Count (excluding ANs):** 5, 400-ish

**Warnings:** OOCness, major canon deviations, abuse of creative liberties, excessive amount of linebreaks.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**Disclaimer: I don’t own D Gray Man.  I don’t even hold a candle to Hoshino-sensei. :) Also, all those biblical deviations and disagreements are all made by the characters. Not me, okay? So no saying about how blasphemous it is. It’s not _my_ opinion. It’s the characters’. They lack all the morality stuff taught to us, so I figured they thought differently or something.**

**A/N: These are just really series of ficlets and it’s up to you fill up the holes left in the story. If you feel that another ficlet should go between two of them, tell me—goodness knows how long this would be if I made this a normal, chronological story. It would be boring like hell too.  The span of the story is large, so please forgive me. D. Gray Man is tiring to make a proper story from. There’s just so many details and you have to be able to carry the general atmosphere that the manga can create, well, nevermind.**

**This is Gen. No slash. No het. No romance, you green minded little beasties. This is AU, too, kay? So no telling me that something I wrote isn’t canon, because it _isn’t_. This is an attempt to connect all of the loose ends that hasn’t been tied up and all the mysteries that are still not shone upon by light. (Haha, corny.)**

**Also, the quotes and mini-poems in italics are typed at the top of my head so they aren’t really verbatim to the original. They’re already widely accepted, but I’ll still disclaim anything. A majority of that, though, is written by me. \m/ Right, feel free to ask any questions if they don’t make any sense. This will—sometime in the near future— go up in AO3 as well, (under the same penname) for those who want a copy.** **J** **Just make sure you don’t post it somewhere else without my name on it, kay? I’m pretty selfish like that.**

**Oh and guys: BIG NOTE: Italics do not exist in Google Chrome Mobile or Opera Mobile (Internet Explorer Mobile does though, oddly) so some of the things here won’t make sense if you don’t see the emphasis since I rely heavily on it for vocal expression. (I read it there and I kept making frowny faces.) I don’t like bold or underline too much since bold usually means anger or something to me and underline looks too much like a hyperlink even if intellectually I know it isn’t.**

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**Noah Guide (those present in canon but not entirely canon):**

**Creation—Millennium Earl ** The Earl is a Noah, but he doesn’t have a representation, so I made one for him.**

**Pleasure—Tyki Mikk (to _choose_ )**

**Dreams—Road Camelot (to _dream worlds_ )**

**Desire—Sheryl Camelot ( _movement_ )**

**Bonds—Jasdero and Devitto (to _actualize_ )**

**Wisdom—Wisely ( _Devil’s eye/Jagan_ )**

**Wrath—Skinn Bolic ( _lightning_ )**

**Lust—Lulu Bell ( _to transform_ )**

**Corrosion ( _to_ _poison and well, erm, corrosion. XD_ )**

**Pity—Maashima (?)**

**Judgement—Toraido (?)**

**Ability—Maitora ( _infusion?_ )**

**Judgment, Corrosion, Pity and Ability are mentioned in canon but are not necessary for the storyline, if you’re curious, search them up. D Gray Man wiki has them.** **J**

**Well, enjoy**

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_So as the boy fell to sleep,_

_The gasping flames within the ashes_

_One by one, they rise up and expand_

_Lighting up that beloved face_

_Suspended from earth are thousands of dreams_

_No matter how many prayers are returned to the earth,_

_I shall continue to pray._

-The Musician’s Melody; Ch. 133 p. 5 D.Gray Man Manga.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Hey, Neah! What do you think this book is about?” A seven year old Mana Campbell asks as he enthusiastically digs into an old chest.

“What book?” A sneeze. “It isn’t covered with dust is it? I can’t have you getting sick again!” Neah chides as he climbed down from a ladder they set up. He had taken the role of a protective little brother to heart, especially with Mana’s recent recovery.

They had been curious though, as children normally were at that age. They were the type went outside playing their days away, only worrying about what game to play next. Their house was impressive, mansion-like even, but Neah hated it inside. He much preferred to climb and sit on, the boughs of the tree supporting him while he hides under the canopy for protection from the sunlight or by their bases somewhere among the wheat fields that they owned. He prefers it outside, yes, but he didn’t like getting dirty. It was too much work to get clean if he had somehow gotten dirt under everything. Neah preferred sitting somewhere where he could hear the winds, talking to it and creating music from the resulting whispers and conversations the he was quite sure only he could hear.

“It _is_ covered with dust but I’m not going to get sick over something so stupid!” Mana retorts.

“Well, you can’t blame me for being paranoid! You were in a coma for almost a whole year!”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. Stop cuddling me like a little baby! I’m all grown up now!”

“You aren’t a grown up! You’re only seven!”

“And you’re six! You’re younger than me!”

“Gah, who cares if you’re older!? I’m more responsible!”

“Says the one who’s clumsy enough to cut off fresh flowers! Cornelia likes her flowers on its mother plant.”

“That was once!”

“And once was enough!”

“Just read the _damned_ book!”

“You _swore!_ I’m telling Cornelia!”

“Don’t! I’m not going to swear… _anymore_ , okay?”

“Fine.” Mana concedes smugly.

When they reached a temporary truce, they dusted off the book. There was something written there.

“’Sorcery’ huh.” Neah reads out loud. “Sorcery… uh… like magic?”

“Flying brooms and creepy witches?” Mana adds. He’s a little confused.

They started reading the book in secret then. It was pretty interesting. Runic circles, magical energy and the like. And Neah felt… a sense of déjà vu.

What was it…?

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Neah?”

“Yup?”

“Have you ever wondered if you could use magic to amplify the piano so it would be heard from anywhere in the house?”

“Uh, no? The best I can do right now is make flowers grow.”

“Then how about you explore?”

“Let me try.”

Brows furrow in concentration.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Notes flittered throughout the mansion and Cornelia had found them… peaceful. She had been tending to her normal duties when she heard the music. She knew there was an old, unmaintained piano that sat in the ballroom of the house. A ballroom? Their family had been very mindful of their places.

She wondered who was playing and was in slight confusion. The piano had been untouched for almost two decades and it _should_ have sounded... _off_. It had been quite a while since a professional piano tuner had paid them a visit, after all. It shouldn't have been heard from the kitchen either. It was definitely too far away.

Her curiosity overriding her desire to clean—she could continue her chores later—she hastened toward the ballroom and what she found surprised her.

"Neah?" She calls out in surprise. The little kid was happily tapping chords on the piano as the sounds were created, his elder brother sitting on a table while his legs swayed with the jaunty tune. The music abruptly stopped and Cornelia found that she was a bit disappointed. Odd.

"Umm... I'm sorry?" He offers lamely, after receiving a warning glance from his elder brother.

She blinks. "Why?"

"Um... for messing with the piano?"

She chuckles. "No need for sorries little one. Play for me?"

Neah brightens. "Sure!"

The whole day had the air saturated with lively music.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Happy moments, comforting lullabies_

_Contented sighs and warm embraces_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“This is so _tiring_!” Neah complains.

Mana chuckles as he juggled thirteen balls in the air. He was still a bit clumsy since he had just added one more ball in his dance, his previous record being twelve. “You wanted to learn magic right? Didn’t you say that the book would be draining your stamina the more you use it?”

“ _Yes,_ but I want to do more! I’ve actually _found_ it! The medium the book said!”

“Let me guess… music?”

Neah’s eyes widens. “How did you—”

“It was pretty obvious.”

“You could’ve told me! I’ve been telling you all about it and you probably realized it _ages_ ago!” Neah replies, a little sulkily. He’d had the book for three weeks already! He was making so little progress!

“This is first time you told me, actually and you _were—_ and still is _—_ surprisingly attached to the piano.”

“Still, you could’ve _told_ me.”  

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

They had been ten. Neah had left to the outside to read the book on his favorite tree. The tree never had any leaves anymore and it wasn’t very likely that it would be able to bear any fruit anymore—he didn’t know why and asked Cornelia once, but he had never given him a straight answer, just some vague explanation about the connection of trees to the one who planted it. He wished it would, but it had long been dead. The same time their parents had… _disappeared._ There was no other word for it. They’d just up and gone one day. Not even their coworkers and their friends knew where they went.

The book on sorcery hadn’t sparked Mana’s academic interest at all—instead he found several toys (hoops, balls and bowling pins) and started figuring out how to make them blend into a performance. Neah tried to fit reading it in between piano practice—Cornelia had been ecstatic when she found out she had a prodigy in the family she was serving.

The book discussed wide ranging topics— _magic!_ It said magic was _real_! Really _truly_ real—and sometimes when he looked at how much he had finished, he didn’t manage to. It was as if he stayed the page where he had first left off would just disappear into somewhere.

He wasn’t even finished with the page when a column of smoke had entered his field of vision. That was the direction of the mansion.

He ran.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Mana!” Neah coughs through thick smoke, his lungs feeling ashen the more time he spent in the fiery area. “Mana!”

The supports of the house were collasping and he was sure that Mana was still inside! He had to hurry! He couldn’t lose him! Mana was the only family he had left! Then he saw it. A block of burning wood was about to fall on him! He willed himself to remember any protection spell, any! It probably wouldn't work but...

He screams, diving into the energy reserves he had and pushes them out with as much will and intent as he could... as the block of wood was repelled by an unseen force.

“You can’t stay here.” He hears a muffled voice from behind the crisscrossed and fallen wooden beams. “Don’t worry. They’re fine. Your brother is fine.”

“You’re _LYING!_ ” He screams again, his eyes becoming cloudy and unfocused.

“I’m not.” The white haired kid— _kid_? Whitehair? — replies insistently with a smile. “Now I’ll help you.”

That was only when he allowed himself to consider escaping. The person helping him was odd. He had a weirdly shaped arm and it looked like one of his toy robots—it seemed like it was strong too, it lifted those heavy beams like they were paper maché.

That was so cool.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A destined meeting…_

_What_ **is** _destiny?_

_No marks, no proof, but the events that take place._

_No more than a well-placed coincidence._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Neah! I can’t believe you! That was a stupid thing to do!” Mana scolds, his anger being drained away by the overwhelming relief that settled on his shoulders when he saw his younger brother.

“I was worried, you idiot.” Neah bites back. “How was I supposed to know you already escaped?”

“You could have _asked_.” Mana retorts.

“Who would have I asked? I went in through the back!”

Mana’s mouth opens but no sound came out.

“Uh… Hello...?”

Oh.

The kid from earlier.

Neah faces him and rubs the back of his head. “Uh… You… err… Thanks… For earlier.”

“It was no problem.” The kid replies brightly, beaming. “I do my best to help.”

“What’s your name anyway?”

“Allen. Allen Walker.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The sky is sad again._

_Why do you say so?_

_It’s raining._

_I think that rain doesn’t mean the sky is sad._

_What do you think it does mean, then?_

_I think… that the sky wants to help the land._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Innocence, Dark Matter, and Natural Magic…” Neah murmurs. “This book isn’t _supposed to exist._ ”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A crevasse that forms due to a single misplaced event_

_Or is it really misplaced?_

_Fate has an odd—_

**_cruel?_ **

— _way of playing with its actors, after all._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Neah?” Mana calls worryingly. “What is that… on your forehead?”

Neah blinks as he feels blood dripping down his hairline.

Horror dawns on Mana’s face.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**_—hate hate hate hatred—_ **

**_screams, blood, a choked gurgle—nonononono—_ **

**_—stoppleasestop—Ican’tIcan’t—_ **

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Mana! The images! There’s so much— They’re… they’re…” Neah says as he thrashed in his bed, limbs flying everywhere as he tried to claw his skin away. His skin was darkening at an alarming rate and Mana didn’t know what to _do_.

Allen wasn’t anywhere to be found and _he didn’t know what to do_. He tried calling. Again. And again. And _again_! He wasn’t picking up!

“Shh! It was written in that book right? Noahs!”

“I don’t _—_ ” _—gasp—_ “ _—want_ to be a Noah!” Mana makes shushing sounds and if the book was correct, then no one would be able to help them. Unless they wanted the Devil himself.

Neah refused point-blank.

The cries and screams continued for three whole days. Neah’s throat had become raw by that time, but by then the coloring had been near permanent.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**_painpainpainpainagonypain—ithurtsithurtsmakeitstop!!—_ **

_a falling sensation_

_—darkness_

_has it… ended..?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“It’ll only be a while… brother.” A sinister voice echoes.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A tired sigh._

_The book said that Natural magic and Dark matter cannot coexist—_

_Do you believe it?_

_No. I’m living proof to the contrary after all._

_Was that… maybe why…_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You’ll grow out your hair?” Mana asks, his eyes held a slight confusion. “I thought you said it irritated your eyes?”

Neah smiles. It didn’t reach his eyes.

“Well, I’m afraid that comfort’s taken a backseat for now.” Neah said as he traced his charred stigmata with his fingers, almost gently.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_It’s only started, yet…_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

"A name?" Neah says in askance, his skin, a sickly ashen pallor. It had been weeks since his skin had stayed had permanently darkened and he still couldn’t bring himself to look at a mirror.

"Yes." Allen confirms, smiling brightly. "You don't have real surnames, do you?"

Mana thinks. "We just took on what Cornelia told us were our last names since we didn't remember who our parents really were…"

"I _don’t_ want to find any other _family._ They’ve abandoned us anyway, if they do exist, that is." Neah replies petulantly.

Allen laughs.

“Well, okay then.”

“ _Walker!_ ” Neah says in epiphany.

“Uh—Yes?” Allen replies, a little startled.

“No, not _you_!” Neah laughs, and Mana seemed like he realized something. “I mean the _surname._ ”

“Eh..?”

“Mana and Neah Walker. Huh. Catchy.”

“Why don’t we become brothers like… like those blood adoptions or something? Since we have the same surnames and all.”

“Yeah, sure!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The sweetest sound one may hear is a name they call their own._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“All siblings should have secret languages, shouldn’t they?” Allen insists.

“Of course!” Mana agrees.

“Then what should we do?” Neah asks.

“Okay, so this is A.”

“How about you put a line for a guide or something?”

“Sure! You write it down, ok Neah? Your drawings are much better than ours.”

“Ugh. Fine!”

“That way you can make secret songs too!”

Neah’s eyes brightened. “Yeah!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Time passes, time flows._

_Like a river._

_An endless river._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

They were twenty.

“Neah, you bastard! Come back here!” A strangled voice cries.

“Ara, Allen! I can’t believe you’re swearing!” Neah hollers back.

It was a peculiar scene, two young men chasing each other—not as playfully as everyone would have assumed, but one with completely morbid thoughts about the one’s elimination and the other lackadaisically avoiding them. Another was sitting by the side of a stream, soaking his feet in water. It was somewhat peaceful.

“Neah! Give me back my wallet!” Allen grinds out.

“Not before I empty it!”

“NEAH!”

“Neah.” A stern voice echoes.

“A-ah. M-Mana! Nice seeing you here!”

“I’ve been here the whole time.” Mana says flatly then he frowns disapprovingly. “Give Allen’s wallet back. You still haven’t paid for the other time you did.”

“I know! And I _never_ will!” Neah replies stubbornly, pouting but complying and then handing the other back the said item. “Hah! You should be more careful, you know!”

“Yes, yes, oh wonderful _Lordliness_ Neah.” Allen replies with a raised eyebrow and an amused curve on his lips.

“At least someone knows how to respect me!” Neah puffs out his chest in mock pride.

“I was being sarcastic you know.” Allen chuckles.

“Now how about food?” Mana cuts in. “We still hadn’t had breakfast, and no doubt you’re starving.”

“Where to?” Neah asks.

“Then I’ll be leaving.” Allen says, smiling. “I still have my job to do after all.”

“Eh?” Neah asks, startled. “Then who’s going to pay!?”

“I’m not that generous, Neah.” He says as he put on his coat and walked away. “See you tomorrow!”

When Allen was out of sight, Neah grinned and _sang_.

Then they disappeared in a whisper of wind.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Magic?” Allen asks with his head tilted. “You mean like wands, brooms and pointy hats type of magic?”

Neah snorts. “Of course not.” He says lightly. “Magic… is this.”

Neah sings.

Flowers bloomed from the grass they had been lying on. And the surprise he showed was far less than it should have been.

Allen smiles.

"You told me your secret. I'll tell you mine.” He breathes in and exhales. “Innocence. Activate."

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_So we’re like superheroes?_

_A sad smile._

_Why just maybe?_

_Heroes don’t exist after all._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

 “A job?” Neah asks in slight surprise.

Mana sighs impatiently. “I’m not letting you just freeload on the money our parents saved up.”

Neah stops and thinks. “Can’t I just go to university?”

“What are you going to study, then?”

Neah raises an eyebrow as if Mana asking the obvious.

Mana rolls his eyes. “You don’t need to study music, Neah. You probably know more about it than whatever school you would go to.”

Neah beams. “I’ll just audition for recitals and participate in concours. I think I’ll have enough money then.”

Neah was completely confident about it. Mana knew that the confidence wasn’t misplaced. Neah was a gift to the people who could appreciate music, even those who didn’t, actually.

“You couldn’t have done that before?”

Neah smiles instead of answering. “What’s Allen’s job anyway?”

Mana hums. “He said he was a researcher somewhere.”

“Researcher? What’s his field? I never pegged him to be a scientist.”

“Innocence.” Mana shrugs.

Neah blinks. “Well, at least _that’s_ understandable.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Heroes do exist, they just aren’t those icons we think them to be._

_You are_ my _hero after all._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

He was twenty-one. And a Noah. His skin had turned ashen gray and his thoughts… _memories_ overrode his present. He hadn’t expected to be confronted…

“Good Evening~!”

…by the Millennium Earl himself.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“A family?” Neah says in disbelief. “You have a whole family for people like y— _us?_ ” He corrected hastily—but smoothly, you wouldn’t have caught it if you weren’t looking.

“Of course! We are all Noahs, after all.” The Earl grins widely, not noting the slip-up. “Would you accept the invitation? A new family member is always welcome.”

Neah hesitates. _What about Mana and Allen?_ No. If he didn’t go they would be in danger. For the meantime. Just for a while, so they could be safe. They’d never truly be his family anyway.

“I’d love to.” Neah finally says with a small—secretly very scheming—smile.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Life isn’t all laughs and happiness._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Welcome to the Family, _Fourteenth._ ”

Neah smiles convincingly, his hands going through the stigmata that decorated his features—it’s become a habit.

He was disgusted by it all.

“I’m home.” He says it with complete _‘satisfaction’_.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A house is a home if that is where the heart belongs._

_Then what is it if the heart belongs somewhere else?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“We have to destroy them.” Creation states.

Neah laughs pleasantly, smiling as he worms his way into the Earl’s graces.  “You don’t have to push yourself too hard. I’ll be here. Right beside you.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Why are you still doing this?_

_What?_

_Pretending to be something—someone you’re not._

_I don’t know what’s going to happen yet._

_Insurance, then?_

_Is that what you call it?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I’ve seen Desire use his white skin. How is that possible?”

“Why do you call us that? You call Dezaiasu ‘Desire’ and me ‘Pleasure’…”

Neah hums. “It sounds more pleasant, doesn’t it?”

Pleasure tilts his head, letting it drop. All of them had their little eccentricities. “He just came to terms with his memory.”

“ _Memory…_ ” Neah muses as he taps a song on the edge of the table.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A name is important._

_A white one had told me that._

_If you use a name of someone you love,_

_You declare your loyalty to them._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah sits in the ivory white room. Lying on the couch as he talked to something disembodied. A fragmented piece.

“You are… Noah’s Fourteenth memory?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A memory is but a mere echo._

_A train of thought that governs the truth that one perceives._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

 “Why do I exist?” Neah asks quietly.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_An embodiment of a shattered soul._

_The last piece of light however shrouded in darkness._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah shoots up to a sit, his breathing uneven.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Pandora’s box, that contains all the evils_

_A mere myth it is not._

_A girl unknowing of all the perils_

_Opens the box but closes it before_

_Hope could work miracles_

_But was shut before it could—_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“That’s…” Neah blinks disbelievingly. “I’m… _Hope?_ Well, that sounds _very_ ominous.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

  _Disconcerting, not all things are evil_

_The world can naught be black or white._

_Judgment of salvation relies on many planes_

_The axle of the precarious balance_

_Stays still until—_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah’s skin turns white.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Understanding has yet to be reached_

_Though enough this will be—_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**_A shadow’s bright smile._ **

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Akuma plant?” Cross inquires.

“Yes. Your mission is to destroy that Plant.”

“Tell me the details.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Dreams was Hope’s little sister._

_Bonds were Hope’s rivals._

_Wisdom was an annoying cousin._

_Pleasure was a sadistic elder brother._

_Desire was an overbearing uncle._

_But Hope’s little brother meant more to him than the whole world._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Whoa there.” Neah laughs as he saw a red haired man stumble out of a door of the Ark. How he got there, he could only wonder. He was pretty sure he never left open doors, though.

The red haired man seemed tensed up for a fight, his hands were lingering over the gun in its holster—quite obviously innocence judging by how it glowed— but he’d managed to reply, “What is this place?”

Neah raises both his arms disarmingly. “Noah’s Ark.”

“Are you an Akuma?”

Neah’s laughter was palpable, but he didn’t vocalize it. “Do I look like one?”

Cross pulls out a cigarette and lights it. “Seeing as you didn’t attack me on sight, I guess you aren’t.”

“You might be surprised.”

“You _aren’t._ ”

“Why do you say so?”

“You’re a _Noah_.”

“ _You’re_ an exorcist.”

“I am.”

Neah grins. “Well, then, for what reason have you boarded an Ark completely controlled by the Noah, who are, by the way, the sworn enemies of your as of presently lower than worms kind?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“It has something to do with the Egg, right?”

“Egg?”

“It seems you call it the Akuma Plant.”

“You don’t seem worried.”

“Do I?”

“I’m not a threat to you, am I.” It was a statement.

Neah smiles in casual affirmation. “Although… I’m not really completely on the Earl’s side anyway.”

Cross stills. “Will you help me?”

“Can’t.” Not won’t. “The room where it’s held can only be entered through a Door created by Dreams. I’m not powerful enough to override _her_ will yet.”

“How can you become powerful?”

“Time. Patience. Effort.”

“I’ll just have to find my own way then.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Will you stay in contact?_

_Will you betray me?_

_Do you think I would?_

_Why would I believe you?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Allen?” Mana asks.

“Yes?”

“You said that there was an organization that has a lot of exorcists, right? Then why aren’t you one of them? Wouldn’t the innocence feel… _betrayed_ if you don’t side with the church?”

Allen frowns—an unusual expression for someone so usually cheerful—and then smiles.

“Innocence… is a lot more complex than you think, Mana.”

“Then…?”

A beat.

“Sentience. Some pieces have sentience.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The Will of the Heart is not always absolute._

_Without the Heart, however, innocence will cease to exist_

_Each piece is a memory_

_A memory of the champion that brought light_

_Deities are not all-knowing after all._

_If they were, then why the need to create imperfect beings?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“It seems we’ve gotten into trouble.” Cross speaks into the phone connected to a golem.

A pause.

“Can you help?”

A pause.

“Of course. You wouldn’t have the balance tittering, now, huh, _Neah._ ”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_This imperfect world the deity forged will refine those imperfect beings._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Akuma! At large! There appears to be _tens_ of _thousands_ of them!” A panicked scientist shouts.

“Mobilize all available exorcists!” The present European Branch Chief commanded with all the authority he could muster.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Of course, what use is a world where everything is in harmony?_

_Such dreary misconceptions._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Maria sings a loud falsetto, destroying all the Akuma in the range she emits from her carefully and rigorously trained vocal chords.

But there were thousands of them. She wouldn’t be able to do enough. She could already feel the strain of singing for hours on end.

“Need a little help?” A voice floats from the doorway.

“Who are you?” She asks suspiciously, keeping her voice just above a whisper. There was no need to waste her voice to converse with anyone when people were dying left, right and center.

“A friend of Marian Cross.”

“Then where is he?”

“Do you _actually_ expect _anyone_ to know the answer to that question?”

Maria falters a bit. Cross was very… difficult. “What do you want?” She demands instead.

“To help.” He stated simply.

Maria hesitates, but hears screams from the bottom of the tower.

“Maria.” She introduces hastily.

“Neah Walker.” Neah replies as the window ledge became piano keys. “Sing, like you never have before, Maria.”

She nods, readying herself.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_You’re one of_ them _._

_Trust is a two-way road._

_Why are you so willing to help?_

_The scales have been tipped._

_Tipped?_

_Yes. The balance is in a precarious position._

_Why go so far?_

_A smirk._

_Who knows?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Piano notes and a beautiful voice fly like birds and arrows, destroying—no, _freeing_ —the Akuma with no discretion.

Maria’s song finishes, her breathing labored.

“What happened?” She asks in disbelief. Maria saw what her innocence had done. It seemed as if the air itself had gained colour, the moonlight shining brighter than it already was, ribbons of light cut through the darkness and everyone had paused to watch the unearthly display.

“I accompanied your song.” Neah says simply.

“No! I mean…”

Neah smiles. “Your innocence goes into scattered and uncontrolled bursts. I guided it with my accompaniment.”

“Why couldn’t you have done that yourself?”

“I don’t have innocence.”

The full implication settles in.

“Those souls…”

“Cleansed.” Neah says triumphantly.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_If only things were that easy._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What happened!?” The Millennium Earl rages several lightbulbs in the room exploding from the sheer amount of Dark Magic leaking from the Noah.

“It seems that the Black Order had kept very powerful Accommodator a secret.” Pleasure states with narrowed eyes and downturned lips.

“We planned for everything!” Creation booms.

“I wonder what Neah had been doing while we were at the siege…” The Noah of Bonds ask simultaneously with no small amount of suspicion.

Neah looks at them distastefully, making sure the magical guards in his head were properly put up, else let Wisdom read it. “I was touring East Europe. There was a _music festival_ there. I couldn’t very well _not_ go. That’s like asking Wrath not to throw a tantrum or Lust not to lust. I _am_ the Noah of _Music_ after all _._ ” _Lie._

Dreams groans and whines. “There you go again! I can’t believe you left us for a music festival!”

Pity snorts. “He has his priorities straightened up, all right.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Creation, Judgment, Pleasure, Desire, Wisdom, Corrosion,_

_Pity, Wrath, Dreams, Bonds, Lust, Ability, **Hope.**_

_Why do you believe that Noah hated God?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Maria is dead.” Cross intones. “It was a simple mission in Stuttgart, Germany. She took on four Noahs.”

“She isn’t.” Neah disagrees.

“No.” Cross agrees. “She isn’t. Not completely at least.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_I know about that grave you keep, Marian._

_How—?_

_I have my ways._

_Then what are you..?_

_I want to help even after I die. **He**_ _can do something can’t he?_

_Then convince him. I don’t have enough time, after all._

_I‘m not that useless._

_Then you can do what he can?_

_Of course. He isn’t the only scholar around here._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What is _that_?” Allen asks curiously as he watched a yellow _thing_ flying above Neah’s head.

“It’s a golem.” Neah stares at Allen as though the answer was completely obvious.

“Does it have a name?”

“What is with you and names? You even named one of those cacti—or was it a duck?— we stumbled upon in Africa. What was the name?”

“Elizabeth!” Allen states offendedly. That cactus had feelings!

“Ah, yes _Elizabeth._ ”

“Names are very important!” Allen puffs his cheeks.

“Then, no. It doesn’t have a name.”

“Then… Timpcanpy.”

“That’s an odd name.”

“Better than your sense of humor.”

“Aren’t you going to ask where I got it?”

“I don’t have to. It’s a gift, right? From Cross?”

“I never did figure out what was going through his head.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The war is still silent._

_It won’t be for long._

_Will you be the one to—_

_Maybe. Let’s see how this goes._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So what are you going to do, now that you have all this… _information?_ ” Cross asks as he takes a whiff of smoke from his tobacco.

“Who knows?” Neah says honestly. “It’s much too early to be making a move.”

“I have the impression that we’re already millennia too late.”

“We are.” Neah sighs defeatedly. “Nobody just knows it yet. We won’t be able to do anything about time lost, however.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“Prepare. Plan. Gather resources for the final battle. Plan for the battle’s aftermath…”

“You’ve thought that far?”

“No. That’s why _you’re_ going to help me.”

“Do you think we’ll have enough time?”

“This problem has been existing for seven thousand years, Marian. It can go on a few decades more.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Wasting time? You really think that’s what we’re doing?_

_That’s what it seems like._

_A chuckle._

_You really are too naïve._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“More information? From who?” Neah asks as he dips a quill into an inkpot.

“The Bookman.” Cross drawls out.

“Why? I think we have enough on hand already.”

“It never hurts to be sure. They’re the most informed people about almost every war after all.”

“No, they aren’t.” Neah denies. “Not in this one.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Clashing steel._

_Crimson blood._

_A pain-filled cry._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You are an idiot, Cross.” Neah says flatly.

“I take offense to that.” Cross yawns.

“Bookman Junior _died_.” Neah pinches the bridge of his nose.

“He can just find another one, right?”

“Do you know how long Bookman taught the kid?”

“’course not.”

“A _decade_ , Cross.”

Cross winces. “He doesn’t seem to be very angry.”

Neah sighs. “He _wouldn’t_ look it at all. He’s Bookman after all.”

“It isn’t solely _my_ fault. The kid was _stupid_!”

Neah ignored him.

“Don’t give me that look!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Why do you keep on struggling?_

_I love this world._

_I love it too! You dare—_

_Your love is severely different from mine._

_Love is love whatever form it might take yet you—_

_Good things aren’t the only things that exist in this world._

_How can you love this world’s flaws?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Two months after the siege, Neah made his move.

He targeted them one by one.

It took all the Noah by surprise.

He had always acted so loyally. _Too_ loyally.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_You didn’t believe us._

_You didn’t have proof._

_You weren’t careful enough._

_He was **family.**_

_They fell silent._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You—”

“I’m sorry, Road.”

“Why?”

“You never did understand my existence, did you?”

“Then _let_ us understand!”

“Noah wasn’t evil, just… misguided.”

“No! He hates God! _We_ hate god!”

“No. God spared him after all.”

“I still don’t understand!”

“You don’t have to.”

“I _want_ to.”

“I’m sorry.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Does it disturb you that people I spent time with,_

_Laughing and joking were so easily killed by these stained hands?_

_A cruel—_

**_—broken—_ **

_—laugh._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah grimaces. His hands trailed along the wounds granted to him by the Earl. The battle had been fierce. He didn’t have enough energy to sing a song to heal himself.

“Use me Neah. I’ll protect your memories from the others! No matter how long it takes. I won’t let them—”

“The Noah’s memories will override yours and you’re—” Neah chokes.

Dammit! Allen was never supposed to be the one protecting him! It was supposed to be the other way around! He was the most powerful person in their group—their family—and where was he now? Where the hell had that bastard Cross gone to!?

“Neah!”

“No! I will not!” He replied desperately.

“You are essential to the world—hell, the whole _universe_ — _Fourteenth_. _I_ am not. Do it. You won’t be able to incarnate properly, would you?” His gray eyes steeled, his magic may be depleted… but the dark matter hadn’t.

“N-no…” He protested weakly. His resolve had already shattered.

He hummed, tears pooling in his eyes.

"I—"

"Neah!" Mana dashes towards his side, breaking the song, and in turn, the spell.

“What are you…?”

And sings his _own_ song.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Pain, pain, go away._

_You don’t need to be afraid._

_The world has light_

_And that gives flight._

_Pain, pain, go away._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“The only spell I ever learned. I _knew_ you’d get yourself into trouble.” Mana sighs in relief as he sees Neah’s wounds knit themselves together.

“The sword…”

“We removed it.”

“The Dark Matter, wouldn’t it—“

“Allen’s hand is made of Innocence.” Mana interrupts.

“—your magic system isn’t unlocked! How did you—”

“I unlocked it. You’re not the only one who read from the book, remember?”

“So you guys…” Neah starts laughing half-hysterically. “You guys are so awesome.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A life on the run is exciting?_

_No. It’s tiring._

_Why do we have to run?_

_Do you want to live?_

_Is that your answer?_

_What do you think?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Mana, you’ve always wanted to be a performer, right?”

“Of course!”

“Then why don’t you join the circus?”

Mana looks thoughtful. “I’m not leaving you alone.”

“You aren’t. We’re sending you somewhere where _they_ can’t reach you.”

Mana nods.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_He couldn’t fight._

_He knew he would only be a burden._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

"Cross? Marian Cross?"

"That's me."

"My name is Allen Walker."

Cross blinked. _Walker?_

“Walker? As in Neah Walker?”

‘Allen’ half laughs. “The one and only. Though I’m not him, obviously. We kind of need a bit of assistance. Neah is…”

“Dead.” Cross assumes, outwardly annoyed, but completely frustrated inside. The idiot was always so selfish.

“No, he’s not.”

It took all it had for him not to jump up in surprise.

“Where is he?”

“Follow me.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_You didn’t even have the nerve to say sorry._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You made such a nice friend, Neah. From the side of ‘good’ too.” Allen laughs out loud.

“You and I both know that there isn’t a side of ‘good’ in this war. Everyone’s as sinful as the next person in line.” Neah replies tiredly, warily sensing around for any Akuma. Finding none—for the moment—he settled back into the makeshift bed.

“What happened to you?” Cross says in a quirked up smile as he enters the room, leaning by the wall near the door.

“I really don’t want to talk about it, but—” Neah sends them an apologetic glance. “I got into a fight—”

“A damned bad one if you got banged up _that_ much. You’re sturdier than a _golem._ ”

The raven’s eye twitches, not bothering to correct him. They all knew it was true. “Am I going to tell the story or..?”

“Go ahead.” Cross was laughing at him. It shone in his eyes—well, _eye_.

“As I said. I got into a fight with the Millennium Earl and the other Noahs.”

Cross lets out a low whistle. “And you survived? With no backup?”

“I kind of didn’t want them to get you guys involved.” And he quailed under Allen’s glare. “I _know_ already. Geez, you make me sound like a little kid.”

“You _are_ acting like a little kid.” Cross snorts.

“Go on.” Allen prompts, having not heard his explanation yet.

“Good news is, I’ve killed all of them save one, the eldest, Dreams.” Neah grimaces. “I didn’t manage to kill the Earl either, but I finished my enchantments on the Ark.”

“No wonder you were so tired.” Allen muses aloud, so used to Neah’s abilities by this time that nothing could impress him anymore. “How many spells did you cast?”

“I’m not exactly sure, I was running pretty high on adrenalin, but I casted a hell of a lot—and the ones I used are nothing to scoff at either. My throat had already felt raw by the time it ended and my head was throbbing, my magic was severely depleted as well. Not to mention all the other injuries I received. ”

“Noah genes.” Cross says as he lights a cigarette. “I take it you aren’t feeling very sane right now?”

“Barely hanging.” Neah gasps out and attempts to smile weakly and failing. “The Memory, my Memory, has the same motives as we do. As long as I’m aware, it won’t drive me insane. Probably.”

“So what do you need me for? I take it this isn’t just some chat to catch up.”

Neah nods wearily. “Can I borrow Maria’s Grave?”

“Why?”

“It’s best if everyone assumes I died.”

“Even Mana?”

Guilt flashes through his eyes. “No. _Especially_ Mana.”

“You do know what you’re asking, right?”

“Yes. He’ll be in more danger if he knows.”

“I thought akumas and Noahs sense other Noahs?”

“Only if they aren’t wearing their white skin. I have too much control for that.”

“Don’t be too complacent.” Allen warns.

“I won’t.”

“Promise me.” He insists.

Neah’s lips quirk. “I promise I won’t be complacent.”

“Good.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o** - **o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A little song would not hold a life_

_That belongs in the cloudless sky_

_How would the ones left diverge?_

_With stuttering breaths_

_I sing this song_

_Reality is never fair but—_

_Can’t it show mercy?_

_Just this once?  
_ **o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen leaves the room, his breaths coming out in harsh, intermittent successions. His legs collapse underneath him and leans on the wall for support.

“I knew it.” Cross says as he leans on the wall by the door, his was cigarette emitting ambers.

“Of course you did.” Allen gives him a weary smile.

“Why did you do it?”

“My _time_ is less valuable than Neah’s life, so I did a fair trade.” Allen smiles.

“Did you tell Mana about what he unknowingly did?”

“Of… course not. He wouldn’t have… agreed if I told him.”

“You won’t remember anything, would you?”

Allen shakes his head silently and smiles.

They hear Neah’s melodic voice from inside the room, singing a song and playing a piano softly. Heartbreakingly.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Though we need to stand up,_

_No matter the hurdle,_

_Even if the sun has set and the air turns cold,_

_Never stand still._

_We need to keep walking,_

_There’s still the dawn that waits._

_Our story has still yet to end._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen’s body glowed a soft green as his breaths became even harsher.

“Auguste. Make sure I live, okay? These idiots would die without me around.”

Cross closes his eyes.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The end of a story is the mark of another’s beginning._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

/*chapter marking note, end chapter*/⃝


	2. Chapter 2

/*chapter marking note, start chapter*/

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**Summary:** A destined meeting. What is destiny? No marks, no proof but the events that take place. No more than a well-placed coincidence. Alive!Nice-but-not-necessarily-good!Neah Neah!Centric. No bashing. Series of ficlets format.

 **Pairings:** Gen.

 **Word Count (excluding ANs):** 9, 000-ish

 **Warnings:** OOCness, major canon deviations, abuse of creative liberties, excessive amount of linebreaks.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**CHAPTER TWO**

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Auguste and the Earl were_

_Clowns that made people laugh or gasp_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Allen’s—gone, you say?” Mana’s voice cracks into a sob.

“Yes.”

“And Neah, too?”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Cross hesitated.

“I’m sorry.”

Mana breathes shakily. “It’s fine.”

“It isn’t.” Cross insists.

“It isn’t?” Mana repeats. “It’s going to be fine. It _has_ to.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Death defying tricks were the Earl’s game_

_Fear and an iron glove was what he thought to rule_

_But family is something he truly treasures._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Mana stares at the audience as a smile is frozen onto his face. He wasn’t on his top game today, but no one blamed him. They knew he had lost people he loved. The performance ended and the applause and cheers he had always craved felt empty. Unmoving. He wondered if the gaping hole that his most precious two had left would be able to heal. He knew they would have wanted him to be happy.

He takes a walk to clear his head and runs into a stray dog rummaging through trash. A dog as white as snow, but had spots of brown by his eyes and ears.

“Hello little fella.” He approaches the furry animal cautiously.

The dog regards him warily and he replies with a soft chuckle.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you.” Mana says gently, holding his hand out slowly as to not scare off the dog.

It seemed to have felt his goodwill and slowly approached him. Then nuzzled in his chest.

“Do you have a name?” Mana’s voice cracks as his hands tighten around the warm being. Allen was the one who liked names. Not him. “No? Then I’ll call you Allen.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Simplicity and grace was Auguste’s aim_

_Compassion and love was what he thought encompassing_

_And family was something he truly treasured._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen was an old dog. Mana had him ever since he turned thirty. Allen accompanied him in his shows and he felt somewhat lighter with the dog as his companion.

Cosimo didn’t like Allen, though.

He felt as though the dog took more of the spotlight than him. Which was true, but Mana was more brilliant than whole circus combined. Mana made sure Cosimo couldn’t touch Allen. Even if he was brilliant, he was still just one clown.

Then he met Red. The kid had thought the same.

“What the hell‘re ya lookin’ at, you freakish clown?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Is the world so cruel as to put something behind an unbreakable glass wall?_

_The Clowns had found what they wanted to see._

_A cube of darkness and a cube of light._

_Auguste took the Light._

_The Earl took the Darkness._

_Absolute power corrupts absolutely._

_It didn’t matter if it was light or darkness._

_Though Auguste had dreams,_

_The Earl had ambition._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Red reminded him so much of Neah. Albeit, Red was a lot crasser than Neah had ever been, but the way they kept people at a distance were so achingly familiar. Red had grown up too fast. He was left in the streets to fend for himself and a scaly red arm wasn’t ideal for fitting in.

But then Red smiles a small smile.

Mana realizes that he was sorely mistaken. Red reminded him so much more of Allen Walker.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The sweetest sound that one my hear is one’s own name_

_What would you do if you have none to claim?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

 “I’m not goin’ ter jus’ take the name ‘f a dead _dog,_ ya crazy clown.”

“I named the dog after a good friend of mine.”

“I bet ‘e would ‘ave loved that.” Red says sarcastically.

“Yes.” Mana smiles. “He would have.”

Red looks at him incredulously.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The most beautiful word is one’s own name._

_If spite was its root, is it still the most beautiful?_

_Wouldn’t you accept a name given out of love and care instead?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Mana!” Red—no _Allen,_ Mana correct himself—hollers.

Allen had been very reluctant to be called Allen, but Mana had been stubborn. He knew where the name Red had stemmed from. Mana had taken it up as a responsibility to teach him proper manners. The brat hadn’t been receptive of it though, at first; but when he started talking about Neah and all the things that Neah had gone through with no detail spared, the brat had felt something click and he started listening to him. Mana would have never thought that Neah would be a good role model for anyone let alone someone with the same name as the mild-mannered Allen Walker.

“What is it, Allen?”

“Can you tell me more about Neah?”

“I thought you didn’t believe in magic?”

“I didn’t.” Allen concedes politely.

Mana laughs. “What changed your mind?”

Allen hesitates. “I think that my arm… may be… Innocence.”

Mana freezes. _Arm. Innocence. Allen. **Allen.**_

Cross had _lied_ to him. _When I get my hands on him—_

“I have something better.”

“A book? I don’t know how to read though.”

“Then I’ll make sure you learn how to.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Cross leans on a side of the tree, out of sight and looks on with a small smile on his face.

Allen had still somehow met Mana.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Natural magic is innate._

_Dark Matter is innate._

_Innocence is not, but the ability to wield it is._

_One cannot exist with the other._

_But rules are but mere guidelines, aren’t they?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Mana, this says here that Innocence or Dark Matter and Natural magic can’t exist together.” Allen asks curiously. “Then why can I use magic?”

Mana falls silent and Allen starts fidgeting.

“Because of Auguste.” Mana finally says after a long while.

The first Allen had told him that Auguste was a memory who was as old as the Earl. He had been as powerful. ‘Had been’ being the keyword. They didn’t know how much the Earl had increased in his power. He was the original wielder of the Heart of Innocence, at least Allen had said so.

“Auguste?”

“Your Innocence’s memory.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Auguste is more tolerant of Natural Magic than any other Heart-aligned Innocence.”

“I thought _your_ Allen’s innocence was—”

“You _were_ my Allen. Neah’s Allen. Cross’s Allen.”

“…what?” Allen whispers.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_You haven’t fully forgotten have you?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Did you know?” Allen asks brokenly his pupils dilating in panic.

“No. Not until now.”

Allen stills then tears started falling. “Did you—did you only take me in because—because of him.”

“No. Of course not.” Mana says. He means it.

“Thank you, Mana.”

“Keep walking. That’s what we do, right?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Things just aren’t easy._

_But you already knew that, didn’t you?_

_You’ve learned new things,_

_Yet you’re still the same._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Do you think it will be scary to remember?” Allen asks anxiously. “ _Will_ I remember?”

Mana hesitates. “I don’t know.”

“Do you want me to?” Allen frowns. If Mana did, then he would do everything he could to return to this kind man whatever he wanted. He was sad enough for the both of them. Maybe having one of his friend return would make him much less of a mope than he presently was.

Mana smiles. “If it comes, then I will probably be happy.”

Allen starts, running through ideas on how to find his memories.

But then Mana interrupts his thoughts. “I do not want you searching for it purposefully, Allen.”

Allen blinks. “What? I thought—”

“The fact that you’re alive tells about many things.”

“What are they?”

Mana chuckles. “You’re still too young to understand.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Travelling?” Allen asks.

Mana nods. “Yes. We loved to travel, Neah and I before—” His voice cracks.

Allen musters up courage to comfort him. “If I’m alive then that means Neah is too?”

Mana laughs, though a bit strained. “I believe so.”

“Can _we_ travel?”

Mana smiles and nods.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Such a peaceful life—No._

_This is just the calm before the storm._

_Better yet, the eye._

_The walls of the cyclone shreds the most mercilessly doesn’t it?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I’m sorry.” A nameless doctor told him. “He was hit hard by the carriage he—”

“No…” Allen breaks.

“—died shortly after impact.”

His hair turns white as it had been before.

He distantly wonders if he went through a similar experience in his first life.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Grief. Sadness. Dull thoughts. Blank days._

_Darkness. Nothing._

Shut up and wake up, idiot.

_Who was that? Why was he_

_—then there was light._

_Lie breathing after holding his breath underwater._

_Images flash through his eyes._

_He remembered everything._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Mana. Neah. Cross. Innocence.” Allen said to himself, rolling the once familiar words on his tongue. “Earl. Auguste. Memory.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Are you just going to wallow in your despair?” Cross asks him as Timcanpy hovers above his shoulder.

Allen stayed unmoving, his eyes glazed.

“Would you like to be my apprentice?”

Allen blinks, eyes alight and bright.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Is it worth it?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“On one condition.”

Cross regards him thoughtfully. “Shoot.”

“Take me to Neah.”

Cross’s face becomes stony.

“He’s dead.”

“He isn’t.” Allen states surely, unknowing where this sudden confidence came from. “You thought he was dead once before. He isn’t that weak.”

“…How did you know?” Cross relents. How did he—?

“The Ark told me.”

“What?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_If I die, can you promise me that the Ark won’t be used by anyone?_

_I promise. Would you grant me that power?_

_Of course._

_Will it only be applicable if you die?_

_Yes. Although I can choose otherwise._

_Will you?_

_Will I what?_

_Choose otherwise?_

_Yes. Maybe. Depends on the situation._

_There has to be a catch._

_There is._

_What is it?_

_It wouldn’t be fun if I told you, now would it?_

_Then how would I know?_

_You wouldn’t._

_You really are a bastard._

_Comes with the territory, dear Allen._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“He didn’t tell me about that.” Cross says exasperatedly then changes the subject not-so-subtly. “So you remember?”

“Not everything.”

“Then it’s enough. It’ll come to you in time.”

“Although I do remember what Maria did to you during the—”

Cross flinches. “Don’t you dare.”

Allen laughs. “It’s a little sad that you’re outwitted by a ten-year old.”

“You _aren’t_ ten.”

“You’re the only one who knows that, though.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So what happened to Neah?”

“He—He’s asleep.”

“Where?”

“He didn’t say.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The Earl of the Millennium can feel grief._

_No one is exempted._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Good Evening~!”

Allen starts and stops himself from snarling, instead looking like the lost boy he was supposed to be. He stares at the rotund clown blankly. He was very thankful that Wisdom hadn’t been reborn yet. Neah’s stories about the Noahs weren’t the best, but he knew that such knowledge would someday be crucial.

“You lost someone you loved, didn’t you?” The Earl says gently. Allen felt something unpleasant rise in his chest, but he forcefully pushed it down. _No need to give him leverage over you._ Allen knew though, that the Earl could kill him if he so wanted. He was much too weak to even put up any resistance.

“What do you know!?” He growls righteously, knowing that children were prone to violent outbursts. The Earl needed him alive for making a new akuma after all. “They’re never going to come back, anyway.”

The Earl’s grin widens. “What if I told you that I could make them come back?”

Allen hesitates visibly, fakely. He had learned a lot from Neah, being the flamboyant thespian he was. “Really?” Allen sounded hopeful. Neah had told him that the akuma making process could only happen if the soul was already departed; if the person somehow calls out a person who was still alive, that person would feel something jar them, but the soul would stay in that body since the connection of the soul to a human body was greater than anything that could be made by machines even if they were made with magic. The name didn’t have to be specific either. You could call your departed mother by ‘Mama’ and the correct soul would still be taken, the sentiment of that wasn’t lost on Allen; but it _did_ work in his favor. He was still grieving about Mana, too, but he knew better than to call him. He’d only make Mana suffer, after all.

Allen didn’t know how Neah figured those out, but at least he knew a lot about it.

“How?” Allen asks, the Earl oblivious to the plans he was making.

“This machine here would be the body of your loved one.” The violet tinted skeleton was in a stand and Allen shivers slightly. Violet has never particularly made him comfortable.

“What do I need to do?”

“Just call out his name.” The Earl grins.

Inwardly, Allen grins evilly. _Wakey wakey sleeping beauty._

Allen takes a deep breath and calls: “ **Uncle!** ” The word echoed desolately in the empty area.

Nothing happens. Allen chokes out a silent laugh, which, to those who did not know him, sounded like a sob.

The Earl looks confused for a moment, then his grin went up again.

“It seems your uncle is still alive, young one.”

“Is he really?” Allen asks with a big smile, his eyes still somewhat dead.

“Yes.” The Earl tried to hide his disappointment, but Allen could feel it behind the rotund man’s pasted unnatural smile.

“Thank you, mister. I’ll remember this!” He said in childish glee.

The Earl pirouettes and makes a grand bow. “Anytime, young lad.”

Allen wonders why The Earl doesn’t kill him, but does not question it.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

In his piano room, Neah wakes up jarringly and curses.

He just _knows_ Allen had something to do with this.

He also knows he was going to nurse a headache the size of Russia for a while.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Things haven’t gone full circle yet, have they?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“He’s awake.”

Cross shifts. “How?”         

“The Earl approached me about Mana. I called _him_.”

Cross frowns in momentary confusion then his eyes clear and he bursts out laughing. “You are evil.”

Allen shrugs. “A decade long hibernation is enough for him, I think. It’s about time he starts moving again.”

Cross calms down a bit, wiping a tear away from the corner of his eye. “Did you know how long he wanted to rest?”

“No.” Allen replied. “I do know that he’s as lazy as they can get though. Did you know that he uses the Ark to get somewhere in the same town?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_We’re just going to have to wait and see, then._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What!?” Allen asks incredulously. “I am not going to call you _Master_.”

“You’re formally my _apprentice_. People will expect you to.”

“Then I’m just going to tell them I don’t respect you.”

“Brat.”

“Gramps.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The rails have been set._

_The wheels have been checked._

_The coals have been warmed._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

It was two months before Neah appeared before Allen again. He hadn’t aged a day.

“Took you long enough.” Allen huffs.

“Well, I’m sorry if I needed to recover.” Neah pouts. “I was going to wake up soon anyway. I also did some—ah— _errands_ while I was at it.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Where’s Mana?” Neah asks.

Allen’s eyes darken. “Gone.”

Neah breathes in sharply, blinking back tears then smiles softly but sadly. “He would love it up there.”

Allen blinks. “You’ve seen heaven?”

Neah nods trying to calm his breathing, but letting his tears fall. “It’s a nice place.”

“Aren’t you going to grieve?”

Neah shook his head. “This isn’t a good bye after all. Just…”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Good Night._

_A promise that you’ll still be able to say_

_Good Morning._

_People say that without knowing the whole implication of what they say._

_Good for them, right?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Will _you_ go there when you die?” Allen asks curiously, knowing that Neah wouldn’t take offense to the blunt question.

Neah shakes his head. “No.”

“Why?”

“An awakened Noah cannot go to either heaven or hell. The human souls are wiped and reincarnated, to atone for their sins. The Noah’s memory stays though. That’s only the time we can go anywhere, really.” Allen let the subject drop. “Where’s Cross?”

Allen’s face darkened even further. “He’s worse than you when it comes to money. That’s saying something.”

Neah laughs melodiously. Allen starts to wonder if he practiced that laugh in front of the mirror. “He really is a handful isn’t he?”

Allen breathes slowly. “Thanks to him I’ve been marked as a money cow.”

Neah’s smile doesn’t fade as he then speaks. “I’m taking you from him.”

“Wha—I’m _not_ a child, Neah. You can’t just _adopt_ me.”

“I know.” He chirps. “You _look_ like one though and that is going to be a problem.”

Allen rolls his eyes. “Well at least you’re better than Cross.”

Neah offers a hand dramatically, his other hand tucked by the base of his spine, with a half-bow while a door of the Ark opens behind him. “Shall we, dear nephew?”

Allen ignores his hand with an exasperated smile, walks past him and heads straight to the glowing door.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The skies are bright, a blue so clear._

_The stones are white, a town so austere._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Where are we going?” Allen asks as he politely devours a platter of food.

Neah had explained it to him once, that the Ark was made to be self-sustaining and provided the people with food with only a command from the person who operated the controls. The houses could be converted and changed by the will of the operator—in this case, The Musician—to anything that is only limited by the Musician’s imagination. It tapped into the magic of the earth and needed no other source other than it. Neah had told him all this with awe and fascination in his voice, saying that even if Noah hadn’t been the one who had created the blueprints—God was the one who had told him what to do and how to build the Ark after all, according to the bible—being able to build such a magnificent piece of magic was commendable. They were only a small family after all, the ones who built the Ark.

“ _You_ aren’t going anywhere. You’re going to be learning how to play the piano.”

“Then where are _you_ going?”

“Hm. Somewhere in India.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_An aspiring doctor,_

_Childhood friends,_

_Tragedies pile up on one another, don’t they?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

They were in India, _somehow_.

“So you made a friend your age, Allen?” Neah asked cheerfully as he bit from a piece of naan.

“Neah?”

“Yes?”

“Do shut up.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The side that has the majority’s best interests at heart, are they really the side of good?_

_How about the minority that is despised so much?_

_The side that hurts and kills, are they really the side of evil?_

_How much is that purely for fun?_

_Morality is circumstantial after all._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“The Black Order?” Allen asks. “I thought we weren’t going to take sides, Neah.”

Neah shook his head. “We aren’t. Not in the long run. We’re just going to stay with them for a bit. Goodness knows how corrupted they are. The upper-ups I mean. The Pope is just way too enamored by the Heart and what it stands for that it’s sickening.” Neah wasn’t sure where Apocryphos was, but he was pretty sure the creature had the Black Order on its strings. He thought that it was not unlikely for the Soldier to be the Pope himself either.

“Why?”

“My self-appointed responsibilities,” He pauses for dramatic effect, Allen rolls his eyes with a smile; he smiles too. “, lie upon balance. The Millennium Earl is gaining too much power and influence at present. The side of ‘light’ needs a little push.” Neah mimicked a pushing gesture with both of his hands.

“When do we leave?”

“How good is your control of your innocence?” Neah counters.

Allen smiles. “Good enough to face a Noah.”

Neah doubts it. “Is Auguste awake yet?”

“He is.”

“Good. How about your sword?”

“Still haven’t remembered how to.” Allen confesses. “You should know, shouldn’t you? I lent you that sword after all.”

“Well, you should get on it, shouldn’t you? You don’t know how to properly wield a sword, do you?”

Allen grimaces. “It’s not like there’s an abundance of swords masters on hand.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Can you recognize Akumas, Allen?”

“Recognize? What do you mean?”

“Were going to join an organization which hunts Akumas for a living. You need to be able to recognize Akumas pre-emptively.”

“How?”

“Magic.”

“Wow. That’s _very_ specific.”

“Didn’t Mana give you a gift?”

Allen looks away guiltily as his scarred left eye throbbed. “He did.”

“Why not use it properly?”

Allen hesitates. “It’s… gruesome.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_I know you want to help._

_But I can’t if I—_

_Then this will be the last thing I’ll ever give you._

_Allen wakes._

_His eye throbs._

_It wasn’t just a dream._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You’re way too nice.” Neah tells him exasperatedly.

“There was an Akuma there! I couldn’t just let it—”

“You _could_ have left it to the exorcists.”

“Then it would have been too late.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with the pretty lady, does it?”

“Miss Moore has nothing to do with it. Akumas are souls in pain. I can _see_ them suffering! I just wanted to—”

“I know. I know. You’ve told me that one too many times.”

“Where were you during the whole affair, anyway?”

Neah smiles mysteriously. “Oh, I don’t know. Just somewhere.”

Later, Allen shouldn’t have wondered that the entire police force of France had somehow been enlightened by the supernatural. Furthermore, they seemed to be going by the same credo that Neah had built rhetoric by rhetoric with Marian to help them in their efforts. Neah was charismatic like that.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Days of laze blur together._

_That’s just you, my dear nephew._

_You’re the epitome of lazy, Neah._

_I’ve been doing lots, you know._

_Globe trotting?_

_You left me here to fend boredom by myself._

_I left you piano lessons!_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Did you have Cross send them a letter?” Allen asks, tilting his head.

Neah freezes. He _had_ forgotten. “Um, not yet actually.”

Allen sighs exasperatedly. Neah had always been irresponsible. “Go to him then.”

“He has Maria.”

Allen curses. That complicated things. “What now?”

“Timcanpy can tell us where he is.” As if hearing Neah’s call, Timcanpy crawled out of Allen’s shirt and he opened his mouth to project a map with a red dot on it.

“Timcanpy couldn’t do that before.”

“He couldn’t.” Neah agrees as he told Timcanpy to make it as specific as possible. “Cross isn’t the only one capable of tinkering with things and I’m not the only one who can do magic tricks.”

“When did you add it?”

“Yesterday.” Neah replies absently. “Looks like I’ll be going to China.” He sighs exasperatedly. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“A letter?” Cross asks amusedly as he downs a bottle of alcohol. “Since when did you start needing my permission to do anything?”

Neah hits Cross’s head lightly with a wooden fan he picked up somewhere along the way, earning a yelp. “This is no joking matter. The balance is tipping again.”

“Why don’t you just pick a side, Neah?”

“I have my own side with you and Allen right there.” Neah states.

“Who said I would join you?”

“I didn’t have to ask, did I?”

“Of course not.”

“You sure you aren’t in love with me?”

Cross turns green.

Neah laughs at his horrified expression.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah opened a door just below the cliff face of HQ—he’d almost opened a door to the Oceana Branch (he had quite an attachment to that place, what with the _First Invasion_ —where he helped Maria—there and all)— and he was tempted to just fly up under the guise of Timcanpy serving as their wings, now that he thought about it, seemed like a very good idea. (He was actually tempted to open a door right inside HQ, since he’d been there before, but he thought that they would think he was hostile and that would cause more than just a boatload of problems.) Allen looks like he’s readying himself to climb up the wall when Neah spoke up.

“Allen? Grab onto Timcanpy’s tail. I’m going to fly us up.”

“Why do I have to grab Timcanpy?”

Neah smirks. “I wouldn’t want them finding about my magic just yet.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Dark matter detected! He’s an akuma! _An akuma!_ ”

Neah inwardly grimaces, he hadn’t expected a scan at all. It was a good thing he hadn’t worn his gray skin for a long time even if they didn’t explicitly know about Noahs yet, but he was pretty sure that with the war in the future, they would encounter one of the thirteen and he wasn’t eager to see how they would react to him being one of the enemy’s kind.

Neah sighs outwardly with Allen giving him an amused look.

“Oh, you need to shut up, stone-face, keeper-man, whichever. I’m not an akuma. Do you see any reverse pentacles anywhere?”

“No! Go away! You’re going to hurt us!”

“Damn it. _Shut up_!” Neah shouts back at it.

The door sounded really pathetic and Neah was seeming more and more like a bully with every minute that passed. It was a slight shock to Allen. Neah was more composed than this. He had to admit though, the door-face could get on anybody’s nerves.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Chief! There are two people by the gate guard! One seems to have been branded an akuma.”

“Who’s on standby?”

“Kanda.”

“Send him out. We can’t have them marching into our doorstep.”

Lenalee glared at her brother. “Aren’t you jumping to conclusions again brother?”

“What about that golem? Isn’t it Marshall Cross’s?”

Ignoring the researcher, Komui pulled out a microphone from somewhere. “ _State your intentions._ ”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen had tuned out the argument of the door with a face and Neah—he hated to be compared to Akuma because according to him, Akuma were vile creatures— when he heard a voice from one of the black golems floating around them like bats.

A dark haired person sprung from the roof and descended with his glowing sword. Neah heard the song of the Innocence and then he stopped the urge to flinch. Innocence and dark matter did not mix well and he was thankful that his white skin muted the influence of the Dark matter in his body. He leapt back and raised his hands in a disarming manner, easily weaving through the swordsman’s strikes

“ _State your intentions._ ”

“We’re here to become exorcists. Master—” Allen grimaces at the word. “—Cross had sent a letter?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“A letter?” Reever looks at Komui accusingly.

“Ah… There _may_ have been a letter…? Hrm.” Komui says slowly then instantly says another. “Would someone please find the letter in my office?”

“I’ll do it.” One of the scientists sighs dejectedly, ignoring the pitying looks everyone sent him.

“I’ll help.”

“Me too.”

Everyone knew how hard it was to find something in Komui’s office.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Whoa, I’m not here to fight. Honestly.” Neah repeats for the nth time and his patience was wearing thin and going by the look on the other’s face, so was he. Neah had to admit that he knew how to read through attacks and he was surprisingly nimble and agile due to his existence as a Noah. The boy was good.

Neah twitches as he felt his lower arm throb. He’d managed a small gash, not enough to be a cause for threat, but as long as Neah concentrated enough... Okay, so more than good. He _had_ been responsible for destroying hopeful swordsmen’s dreams of being the best. He wasn’t bragging. It was pure fact.

He weaves through several more assaults before a back golem floated nearer to Kanda and a voice was heard.

“ _Stop fighting! They’re for real, Kanda! Withdraw!_ ”

‘Kanda’ blinks as he pauses in the middle of a technique then clicks his tongue. He sheathes his sword in one fluid motion then stalks away.

Neah breathes in relief. He had brought an extra copy of the letter with him in his pocket in case they hadn’t received the copy and be attacked unreasonably.

Like what happened now.

Really, was their policy really ask questions _while_ stabbing?

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So I hear you were Cross’s disciples?” Komui asks curiously as he opens the door to his laboratory. “He doesn’t seem like a man who take apprentices.”

Neah snorts quietly. “Like hell we’re his apprentices.”

Komui’s eyebrows climbs his forehead.

“We’re more of money cows to him, actually.” Allen clarifies, telling a half-lie.

Komui’s face lights up in realization then deflates in slight pity. “Ah. He’s… very notorious.”

“Notorious is a very mild word for him.” Allen grumbles.

“So where are your Innocence?” Komui asks, to the point. Allen could respect that. He hadn’t seen the two of them use anything in the earlier battle after all.

Allen pulls off his glove and his clunky—though less clunkier than his initial robotic one—black hand came into view. On the back of his hand was a dimly glowing cross-shaped Innocence. The Innocence had fully incorporated itself on Allen’s arm, only leaving inky black skin by the shoulders instead of roughly textured ones.

“Could you please activate it, Allen-kun?” Komui requested with a disturbing glint to his eyes.

Allen felt like a specimen under a microscope. Which probably was a very apt analogy.

He closed his eyes for a bit and nudged Auguste awake. A soft light engulfed Allen then a mask settles upon his eyes, which he immediately took off. It was too noticeable.

Komui stared in a thoughtful manner. “That’s very… flashy.”

Allen sighed. “I know.”

“It seems like a full body armor. Is this whole thing Innocence?”

Allen nods.

“How about yours? Neah, was it?”

Neah nodded boredly, inspecting his nails. “I don’t have one.”

“But the letter said—”

“I’m not compatible with Innocence. At all.”

“How does that… Are you going to become a finder then?”

Neah scoffs. “I am much too valuable to be a finder.”

Komui looked like he was very confused. Allen doesn’t blame him. Neah liked theatrics.

Neah pulls out a window of the Ark and Maria’s Grave appears.  “Miss Maria sends her regards.”

Komui blinks but hums thoughtfully. “I thought that Marshall Cross was the only one who could invocate Miss Maria’s Innocence?”

Neah snorts, louder this time. “Well, you thought wrongly. Marian just uses Maria’s Grave to hide from his debts and not much else.” Then a thought hit him. “Have you learned about battle in Oceana? You people started calling it the _First Invasion,_ haven’t you?”

Komui looks put off with the non-sequitur but says nothing. “Yes. It was one of the most inspiring battles in the history of the Black Order. Everyone knows about Miss Maria’s involvement. She was breathtaking.” _But of course, she’s only second to Lenalee._

Neah looked very pleased with himself. “I accompanied that song.”

Komui does not understand, but he knows that Neah wouldn’t say anything more than that. He knew that Neah was more than what he seemed.

“Well!” He then claps his hands together cheerfully. “Allen-kun? We’re going to see how that arm of yours works.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A prophecy,_

_A lie,_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen stumbles through his assigned dorm room when he saw Neah propped on the bed with a violin in his hands. It seemed like he was about to play a song.

“What are you doing in here?” Allen asks tiredly.

Neah pouts. “Is there anything wrong about siblings visiting each other?” Allen gives him a disbelieving glance, then amends. “How did the examination go?”

Allen shudders. He never _ever_ wanted to go through that craziness ever again. Komui didn’t look as harmless after that bout of insanity. He looked so gleeful while drilling his hand—he said that it was damaged. It wasn’t. Allen hadn’t mustered up the courage to point out the lie.

“I’ll take that as a ‘not so well’, then.” Neah notes amusedly.

“I—also met Hevlaska.”

“She knows, then?”

Allen shakes his head. “Auguste was asleep during it, but she’s suspicious.”

“What percentage did you get?”

“Eighty-eight.”

“That’s good?”

“I think so.”

“And what else?”

“She… told me that I was the ‘Destroyer of Time’.”

Neah bursts into laughter. “Well you _did_ destroy your own time. You’re the first one, I think.”

“This isn’t funny! People are starting to talk that the ‘Time’ refers to the Millennium in the Millennium Earl!”

“That has a good chance of happening, actually.”

Allen stills. “You’re serious.”

“Perfectly. Your sword is a complete opposite of the Earl’s, after all.”

“This isn’t going to bode well if I ever manage to draw it.”

 **o-o-o-o-o-o**         

Allen likes the chef. He was a good cook even if he was odd. At least he didn’t have to earn his own meals anymore.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“—and finders are dispensable unlike exorcists.” Kanda finishes his rant about finders and what exactly he thought of them.

Neah didn’t hear the whole tirade—having just arrived—but Allen had and he was angry. Finders were humans too! They aren’t just tools to just throw away when they aren’t useful anymore!

Allen stood up to give Kanda a piece of his mind and ultimately gains the respect of the finders in the room.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Unusual sightings?” Komui asks. “Where?”

“It seems like it’s coming from somewhere in France.” Reever replies.

“Looks like it’s a job for an exorcist.” Komui says as he looks up from the report.

“Who are you going to send?”

“Maybe that grumpy samurai would like some work.”

“Why don’t you send the newbies with him?”

“Now that you mention it, that sounds like a good idea! Put it on the list. I’ll meet them later. For now… Lenaleeeee!”

“Brother! You still have work to do!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I’m not a fighter, Komui. I’m more of a dodge, run and hide type of person.” Neah admits lightly, his face was chagrined and if Allen didn’t know better, he would have believed him. Allen applauds his skills in lying. “I don’t really want to be separated from Allen while on missions. He’s the only family I have left.”

Allen sighs at his insistence. After Mana died, Neah had been more and more reluctant to part with him. Like a paid babysitter. Or a baby duckling. It depends on who you ask.

He could take care of himself, thank you very much.

Komui nods in understanding. He was a brother too.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“The Akuma are an extension of the Earl’s sight, aren’t they? Wouldn’t you be recognized?”

“That’s what Maria is for, you idiot.”

“You can do it yourself, can’t you?”

“It’s much more tiring that way and Maria doesn’t really get tired.”

“Why are _you_ the ‘tipper’ if you’re so lazy?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The walls have ears_

_The trees have eyes_

_Paranoia isn’t unneeded_

_When it is not unfounded_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Martel?” Neah grins languidly stretching his limbs, not unlike what felines do. “I’ve been there before.”

“Why, _pray tell_ , did you go to a _deserted_ city?” Allen asks in incredulosity.

“ _Because_ it’s deserted. I had to find somewhere to lock the ark in. It’s not there anymore, though.”

Allen sighs. “We can’t just use the Ark to go _everywhere._ ”

“Then why does it even exist?”

Allen falls silent.

Neah’s grin widens.

“We’re _still_ not taking the Ark.”

“Wet blanket.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Why do you value life so much?_

_They can’t be returned. They precious._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen and Kanda find Three Akumas and dead finders at the scene in Martel.

“It’s almost a level two.” Neah says absently. “I’d recognize that twisted refrain anywhere.”

“Do you know what its abilities are?” Allen asks.

Neah shakes his head. “I can’t hear it. It’s a bit too far away.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Symmetry is not always for always._

_Mirrors are not always right for right._

_Some people don’t like to play,_

_Dolls are not always there for childish games._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Lala.” Neah says gently, not taking a step towards the human doll. “We aren’t here to take you from Guzol.”

“That’s what they all say.” Lala says distrustfully as she tended to the sick man. “Guzol was the only person who treated me like I wasn’t just a doll. You’re not taking me away from him!”

Neah becomes thoughtful. Kanda was incapacitated at the moment and Allen was already tired. Allen really blamed it on the fact that he hadn’t been very active recently. Neah hadn’t even lifted a finger to help. Well, he _had_ been scouting the area and mapping it for future use. He trusted Allen could handle himself.

“Then we can bring Guzol with us.” Neah declares.

“What?” Lala and Kanda says with hope and outrage respectively.

“You can’t just decide that by yourself!” Kanda growls out.

“Guzol doesn’t have much time left, does he?” Neah ignores the samurai as he plows on.

Lala nods with tears in her eyes.

“We can wait for him.” Neah says gently. “Is that what you want?”

“What would happen after that?”

“You’re going to come with us.”

Lala looked confused. “I thought you were going to take my heart?”

Neah shakes his head. “Do you want to live?”

Lala hesitates but she knew what she wanted. “Yes.”

“Then I’ll teach you how to sing.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The song that manifested in the lifeless doll_

_Is the memory of the Innocence,_

_A champion of the Heart that failed in its duty_

_A person of great kindness._

_The Heart had never been a great judge of character._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How did you know?” Kanda asks grudgingly as they waited for Guzol to pass. Lala was singing her song in the background.

“How did I know what?” Neah regards him with a light demeanor.

“Those things you said.”

“You need to be a bit more specific.”

“The level two, the doll, the Innocence…” Kanda trails off, he looked like he bit into a lemon.

Neah smiles cryptically. “I can hear their _melodies_. Would you like to learn? Allen already knows how.”

“The beansprout? Hell no.” Kanda grit out.

“The offer still stands, samurai-san. Your song is surprisingly _very_ warm to hear. It’s been a while since I heard something so _protective_.”

Kanda flushes in either anger or embarrassment, Neah wasn’t quite sure. “You know nothing.” He snarls.

“I think you’ll find that statement a bit misguided.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Was he like Marie? Who is able to hear what normal people don’t hear?_

_He said he could teach it._

_…what the hell did he mean by **warm!?**_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Will you really?” Lala asks as she and Allen prays before the kind man’s grave.

“Of course.”

“What would I be able to do?”

“It depends. What do you want to be able to do?”

“I want to learn how to heal people.” Lala says determinedly.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Hard on the outside, soft on the inside._

_Like a prickly hedgehog who knows nothing but pushing others away._

_Well, they just need someone who could ignore those barbs_

_And hug them without paying attention to the pain they receive._

_They’ll turn into marshmallows after that._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You’re just going to leave?” Neah steps beside Kanda as he walks out of the City of Martel.

Kanda grunts out an affirmative.

“You’re still injured and your clothes are a mess. You can’t go back into doing missions with the way you are.”

Kanda ignores him.

“Do you want to hear a song?”

Kanda walks faster. Neah follows him obstinately.

“Was this because of what I said? About your song?”

Kanda falters slightly. Neah hides a triumphant grin.

“It is isn’t it?”

“Shut up!” Kanda replies viciously.

“You’re like a turtle like that, aren’t you?” Neah teases lightly. Cross was much pricklier when he was younger and Neah managed to get through him.

Kanda decided that Neah wasn’t normal and studiously ignored him.

His frown had already left his face.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Though, some hedgehogs are much less softer marshmallows._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Miss Lala, we’re going to have to go straight back to HQ, okay?” Neah informs her. Allen was out somewhere else while Neah was in charge of teaching Lala the basics of Magic but drawing from the Innocence instead of her body. She was just a doll and had no real body after all.

“What should I do? My right eye isn’t—”

“Let _me_ be the judge of that.” Neah puts his hand over Lala’s head as he sang a song in his head. The antennas became ribbons and her right eye became more similar to a human’s. When the song ended, Lala looked like a thirteen year old girl. A normal thirteen year old girl. Neah hands her a mirror and her breaths became shaky.

“Thank you.” She whispers. “Thank you.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Why don’t you believe me when I tell you that he is an akuma?_

_Who’d believe a boy who cried Wolf?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I heard something about Akuma. I’ll be back in a bit.” Allen excuses himself and separates himself from Neah and Lala.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Best friends torn apart by death_

_One is neglected, but loved_

_The other is smothered but not loved_

_An offer of return digs two graves_

_A hollow laugh hangs in the air_

_A friend who helps_

_A friend who cares_

_That’s enough isn’t it?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You’ve been busy.” Neah says just after Allen opened the door to his dorm room. He was sitting on the desk with his feet propped on the chair.

“Yes.” Allen replies tiredly. He slumps in his bed bonelessly.

“You met Creation, then?”

“Unfortunately.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_I want to help the Order when I grow up!_

_What do you want to be?_

_An inventor! Just like my father!_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah was composing a song in his room when a knock on the door was heard. The knock was soft but demanding and Neah could hear the music of Lenalee Lee on the other side of the door.

“It’s open!” He calls.

“Good evening, Mr. Neah. Um, I’d like to take you guys somewhere.” Lenalee had a smile on her face.

“You sound like a hotel maid, Lenalee-san.” He teases lightly. “Will we be taking Lala and Allen as well?”

Lenalee nods.

Neah stands up and stretches slightly.

“Shall we?”

Neah could hear the music that said that he was going to be a receiver of a surprise. He didn’t say anything though.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

The kitchens came into view and there were a lot of people there.

There were three banners above the feast.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Welcome home Allen Walker_

_Welcome home Neah Walker_

_Welcome home Lala_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

They both hid a grimace and instead gave the others a warm smile.

This wasn’t home for them.

Not yet.

Or maybe it would never be.

The festivities were nice though.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Can we… stay?_

_I thought you already knew the answer to that, dear nephew._

_A hesitant nod._

_You can leave me and stay you know. You’re free to choose._

_No. I will not leave you._

_A chuckle._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So where are we going?” Neah asks as he put away a violin.

“Something the finders dubbed the ‘Rewinding Town’ in Germany.”

“Do you speak German?”

Allen nods. “I know enough. Just don’t make me talk about things not meant for exorcists and Innocence and I’m fine.”

“Is anybody going with us?”

“Lenalee is, I think.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Can I tell you something?_

_What?_

_Will you promise to keep it a secret?_

_Of course. You kept your promise and let me stay with Guzol._

_I’m a Noah. The Fourteenth Noah._

_What is a Noah?_

_We aren’t very nice people._

_You_ aren’t _evil._

_I don’t seem like it?_

_You aren’t._

_Then if I tell you that the Order isn’t very nice either, won’t you believe me?_

_She stills._

_The Order seems like a nice home, doesn’t it?_

_We can’t stay for too long. Allen and I._

_I’ll come with you. Will you allow me to?_

_Of course._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Lala?”

“Yes?”

“We’re going on a mission. Have you figured out how to use Innocence in healing? You’ve only been at it for three months after all.”

“Yes.”

“How far can it go?”

“I still can’t recreate organs, regrow amputated limbs, second degree impalement up, do surgery and heal head wounds. I can reattach limbs though. It’s very tiring. I wouldn’t be able to move or heal another until after I’ve rested.”

“Can you stay here and help the doctors with their patients?”

“Of course. Will you teach me more?”

“What do you want to learn next?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Impossible? Well, I’d have said the same but well…_ magic.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“This town _looks_ deserted.” Neah notes quietly. “But my ears tell me differently.”

“When we try to enter,” The finder starts. “, we just pass through and go back the way we came.”

He demonstrates and what happened was exactly as he’d described it.

Lenalee moves to touch the barrier and her hand just passes through as if touching water.

She then steps past it with Allen following her. Neah didn’t dare.

They both pass through with no problem. Neah had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to do the same and come out unscathed. He tentatively touched the barrier of the archway and his finger burst in pain. He flinches and automatically hides it in his pocket. No need to raise suspicion after all.

Lenalee’s head pops out of the archway and addresses Neah. “Are you coming?”

Neah shakes his head as he hides his burnt finger. “You go on ahead.”

Lenalee nods. “Take care!”

Neah gives her a two-fingered salute with his other hand and when she disappeared, he says a quick farewell to the finder and jumps up to the top of the wall.

He took a deep breath and says. “Here goes nothing.”

He casts a protective shield around himself and disrupts the barrier for a moment.

He came out a bit singed but healed almost immediately.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Dreams was here, he could _hear_ her.

“Maria? Can you up the presence concealment?”

“Of course, Dear.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

He could hear the Innocence somewhere already. _Hm. Let’s see._ He walked without a care in the world, weaving through people and saw Lenalee and Allen somewhere near a tavern talking to someone.

He saw an Akuma attack a gloomy looking lady.

Her melody had faint traces of melodies uniquely heard from Innocence.

Well, that was lucky.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Hickory-dickory dock_

_The mouse ran up the clock_

_The clock struck one_

_The mouse fell down_

_Hickory-dickory dock._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Why did you save me?” Miranda asks him pathetically. “This—this is _my fault!_ ”

“ _Your_ fault?” Neah asks her amusedly but his eyes had a hard edge—it was only there because he wanted Miranda to realize something. Mana had always told him that he had the unnerving ability to show multiple emotions through his eyes alone. “Are you so arrogant to believe that the whole world will pay attention to anything you do?”

Miranda was speechless. She hadn’t expected that, Neah guesses. Which was good. He didn’t like being predictable. Magdala Curtain had masked them both from Dreams and the Black Order so he could stay as long as he wanted.

“You might think that this is your fault,” Neah starts. “, because it is.”

“….what?” Miranda was confused.

“What do you know about Innocence?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Innocence? Why was that its name, do you think?_

_Innocence is…umm… youth?_

_No. It means purity; or at least to the people who named it._

_Purity?_

_Cleansing._

_I still don’t understand._

_You just have to prevent people from dying. That’s the best thing to do isn’t it?_

_Can I really?_

_How?_

_You’ll just have to figure it out yourself, don’t you?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So… you’re saying I’m an Accommodator?”

Neah nods. “You can help people with your Innocence. Time is a very valuable ally, after all.”

“H-how do I stop it? The loop?”

“You’re just going to have to ask your Innocence.”

“How do I do that?”

“How about start asking them their name?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Um, hello? What’s your name?_

_-_

_That’s very lovely._

_-_

_Can you please stop the loop?_

_-_

_I want to see tomorrow! I do!_

_-_

_I **have** found a purpose._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I only have one thing to ask though. Don’t tell anyone my name. Or my involvement in all this, okay?”

Miranda nods. “Thank you.”

Neah smiles. “You’re welcome.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A battle._

_Pointed candles lit on fire._

_Impalement and dream-worlds._

_Allen_ really _shouldn’t have kept Auguste asleep._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Where have you been?” Allen asks lightly. “No, never mind. Don’t answer. Can you heal us?”

“You can let go of them now, Ms. Miranda.”

Miranda shakes her head. “No! They’ll get hurt and—and—they’re going to die!”

“No, they aren’t.” Neah replies. “Not on my watch.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“My name’s Lavi Bookman.” The redhead introduces cheerfully as Neah gazes at the sleeping forms of Allen and Lenalee. Bookmen. Impartial scribes of history.

“Neah.” He smiles disarmingly, knowing that his mere name would set off alarm bells in the Bookman Jr’s head. Maria hadn’t been informed about Neah’s intention to hide after the First Invasion and had told a few people about him, which was probably why his name had gotten into history books. Maria had profusely apologized after Neah had flippantly reminded her that he was supposed to be in hiding. “Neah Walker.”

Lavi’s eye widens. “You are—”

“You have your history straightened out, don’t you?” Neah notes, slightly impressed. Nobody else had pieced it together that fast.

“Your help during the First Invasion was marked down in history books as more than just a footnote, though not many know you by name.”

Neah grins. “I know.”

“I’ll tell the old panda about this, you know.”

Neah hummed. “I’d like it if it was kept between you Bookmen. We can’t have the Church hunting me down on sight. How much do you know about us?”

Lavi merely blinks at him. Neah should have known.

“Do you know what Noah’s Ark is?”

“Only biblical records.”

“Not that.”

“Then no.”

“Ask your grandpa. Hm. No. Tell him… _The 14th_ apologizes for the mess he had caused thirty–five years ago.”

Lavi boggled then said weakly. “You’re… The 14th?”

“Am I?”

“If I told him _you_ told me..?”

“Would you?”

“How do you know for sure?”

“You’re a bookman.” Neah stated as if that answered the question. Which it kind of did. Bookmen were keeper of secrets after all.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_How many names have you had?_

_How many lies have you said?_

_How many masks have you donned?_

_Would you still take another name if it meant your life here will end?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You still haven’t learned how to use a sword.” Neah notes offhandedly.

“You just swing the pointy end at the enemy, right?”

“If it was that easy, then I fear for the world.”

“Who do you suggest? That idiot Kanda?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact.”

“No way in hell.”

“Then spar with him and just learn as you go.”

Allen hums. “That _could_ work.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So where to next?”

“Komui says we should go and find Cross.”

“Why?”

“Something about the Marshalls being _their_ targets because they’re looking for the Heart. Though why they would search for that insensitive piece of crap I have no idea.”

“So where is he?”

“Timcanpy…? Oh, thank you.” Neah pauses. “He’s in Edo.”

“Edo?”

“I have never been on the land there before.” Neah laments. “So we can’t take the Ark.” He sighs. Allen gives him an amused smile.

“Komui told us to go a village that Cross apparently visited before. It was a Castle Town before, I think. I’m not sure of the name.”

“Wait—”

“What?”

“Edo’s where the Ark is right now.”

“How did Cross know?”

“I told him.”

“I thought you haven’t been there before?”

“I haven’t.” Neah states. “I only made the Ark fly there then I got off in France.”

“France?” Allen’s expression darkens.

“What?” Neah asks earnestly, taking his expression with pseudo-offense. “Their pastries are to die for!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“History says you know magic.” Lavi starts once Lenalee was out of hearing range.

“It does?” Neah asks beguilingly. “I didn’t know somebody had managed to find that out alive.”

Lavi shrugs. “It can be wholly inaccurate though.”

“You’re right.”

“Can you teach me?”

“Why not?” Neah shrugs. A magic wielding Bookman? That sounds interesting.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_How long will it stay like this?_

_I don’t know._

_Can we stop to rest?_

_Let’s keep going._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Are you a priest?” A villager approaches Allen. “You wear a cross on your coat.”

“Erm, no I’m not really a priest.” Allen corrects. “I’m an exorcist.”

“We need your help!” The villager insists. “A vampire has been terrorizing our village and we need someone to get rid of it.”

“A vampire?” Neah asks curiously. “Can you describe the vampire for me?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A tattered coat, sharp teeth_

_Pale skin and reddish eyes_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Hm. You don’t sound like you’re lying.” Neah muses.

The villager looked indignant that someone had accused him of lying. Well, better safe than sorry, after all.

“Shall we investigate, dear nephew?”

“Shut it, Neah.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Identity concealment?_

_How?_

_Why?_

_Akumas are the Earl’s eyes after all._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I’ll be going on ahead, okay? Allen, comb the town for Akuma. They’re swarming this place.” Neah orders.

Lavi looks thoughtful. “How do you sense Akuma?”

“I can hear the music, Lavi.”

“Music? I can hear music, too.”

“I doubt that.” His lips curl sardonically then he went to explaining. Lavi _was_ going to be his student of a sort, after all. “Everything in this world has a melody. The leaves, the plants, humans, Akuma, Noahs. All of them are very distinguished. Especially to me.”

“What makes you so special, Neah?” Lenalee asks, just arriving from the train station.

“Oh, just natural talent I guess.” He says with false modesty.

Lavi and Allen roll their eyes.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Good morning Sir Baron.” Neah greets amiably as he steps out of the shadows. He’d left the group for recon, but decided to act pre-emptively.

“What do you want?” Arystar Krory bares his fangs. The Noah was not the least bit intimidated. He’d faced much, _much_ worse than a fraudulent vampire that had as much insecurities as a teenager.

“I merely want to talk. You can bring your lady friend with you as well.”

“I will not allow you to harm me or Eliade!” Krory threatens.

Neah raises both his hands in disarmament. “I will reiterate. I merely want to talk.”

“Then speak.” Krory demands.

“I want to talk to you about your condition as a… _vampire_. I think I know what caused it.”

Krory was still wary. “I do not believe you.”

“I am not here to _convince_ you.” Neah says distractedly. He could hear the lady akuma’s music from the other side of the door. He was about to say ‘ _You have a very helpful power for the battles against Akuma.’_ but changed tactics. That probably wouldn’t be taken too well. “I am merely here to inform and extend an offer.”

Krory frowns. “An offer of what?”

Neah didn’t pause, he would sound too unsure of his own offer if he did and said the first thing that came to mind. “Sanctuary.”

“We have a sanctuary right here.”

“No. Sanctuary is a term which pertains to safety and not causing undue problems for anyone not inside.” Well it wasn’t but Neah hoped it sounded genuine enough. “Do you know that the people in town are living in _fear_ because of your presence?”

“F-fear?” The Baron looked uncertain now.

“Yes. Every day, the populace wear necklaces of garlic and carry around stakes because of you.” Neah wasn’t actually sure if it was true, but they might as well have done that. Lavi had done it and _he_ knew how to fight. What were the defenseless villagers to do?

“You said you can tell me what caused it.” He sounded pained.

“I did.”

“Then?”

“It’s Innocence.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Truly? I’m not a creature that kills humans for sustenance?_

_Yes!_

_Am I truly not an abomination?_

_Yes—_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I do not believe you.”

“As I’ve told you. I’m not here to convince you.”

“He’s lying.”

“Eliade!”

“Am I really?” Neah asks simply.

Eliade’s face twists into a scowl. “Of course you are.”

“I will not believe you!” Krory states boldly. “Eliade has never lied to me before.”

“Has she.”

“Of course not!”

Neah could hear her song wrench in gut twisting guilt.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A tragic story of two lovers_

_Both have touches with the promise of death,_

_Then they find each other_

_Both surprisingly immune to the other’s distortion._

_They fell in love._

_Isn’t that just perfect?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Moments after he shut the door, a violet blade is poised by his neck, touching his skin ever so slightly.

“I don’t doubt the sharpness of your blade, but are you perhaps waiting for me to burst into pentacles then into dust?” Neah’s smile never left his face.

“What _are_ you?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then I’m not telling.”

“What do you want with Arystar?”

“His aid.”

“For?”

“The war.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Now _that_ would be telling.”

“Leave us alone.”

“This is rare.” Neah says abruptly.

“What is?”

“You’ve fallen in love with him, haven’t you?”

“Of course not.” She was a bit too quick to answer.

“The why don’t you tell him the truth? If you really don’t love him?”

“Then I’ll do just that.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_It’s tragic._

_They’ll meet again, wouldn’t they?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Good night, Eliade.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I can’t believe you left us with those carnivorous flowers, you bastard.”

“What? It wasn’t _that_ terrifying.” Neah responds with a grin.

“You weren’t there.” Allen answered flatly, shuddering as he recalled the multiple _‘I love you’_ s he threw out.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So, can you teach me?” Lavi pesters as they seat themselves on the red cushions of the chairs.

Neah sighs in pointed irritation. He was tired and wanted to rest, you energetic rabbit. “You have to find your medium first.”

“Medium?”

“Like mine is music, Lala’s is her voice. Some _Crows_ use talismans.”

Lavi narrows his eye at the emphasis, but decided it wasn’t worth much. Cross _had_ been a friend of the 14th and he had a quite high clearance level. “I’ll get right on it!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“There’s a Noah on the train.” Neah says with a yawn.

Allen shoots up from his seat. “Where!?”

“Calm down. I don’t think he means any harm.”

“ _Where?_ ” Allen repeats.

“Last compartment. I think he’s playing cards with Krory.”

“Cards?” Allen says faintly.

“Will you go?”

“I might as well.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“Wouldn’t you be recognized?”

Neah shakes his head. “He’s one of the younger Noahs. He’s just been incarnated too. He’s the new Pleasure, I think.”

“Pleasure?” Allen shudders. “Isn’t that the one who took—”

“Yes.” Neah interrupts. They both knew what story Allen was referring to.

“Hey, do you know where Krory went to?” Lavi asks as he peered into the compartment.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I’m sorry.” Krory sniffles out. He was wearing nothing but his underpants and Neah was hard-pressed not to laugh.

“How did you lose your clothes?” Lavi asks, obviously trying to reign in his own laughter.

“I was challenged to a game of cards—”

“’Bullied into’ was more like it.” Allen mumbles.

“—and I lost my coat and that was from Eliade so I demanded another round and I just kept on losing…”

“Where are they?” Lavi asks, not having heard the conversation earlier in their own compartment.

“The last compartment.” Krory sneezes and shivers.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“May I talk to you?” Neah addresses the hobo-ish man with spiral lensed glasses.

“Why should I?” He drawls out.

“Oh, I’m not sure, Mr. Pleasure?”

The hobo man stills.

Allen felt a chill descend the room. The hobo-man’s companions didn’t seem to notice anything.

The man smiles—rather frighteningly, he might add.

“Out the hallway?”

“Of course.” Neah says pleasantly.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Darkness makes the Light seem bright_

_Light makes the Darkness sublime_

_What’s the answer to the question of balance?_

_A chuckle._

_A never ending cycle_

_Forth and back._

_Back and forth._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How did you know?” Tyki regards him suspiciously, but still somewhat laxly.

“I heard you.”

“I was careful. I know I didn’t say anything.”

“I never said you did.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“I heard your melody.”

Tyki laughs a long throaty laugh. Neah smiles patiently and sips into a cup of tea he had conjured. Conjured drinks and food had odd tastes but tea he had never screwed up tea before, magic or not.

“What’s so funny?”

“You approached me.”

“And?”

“I know who you are already.”

“I made that very clear, yes.”

“You’re not scared? That I might tell the Earl you’ve already been incarnated?”

“I am.” Neah admits. He _was_ a coward after all. He just had enough of a drive to banish that fear.

“Then why did you?”

“I knew Pleasure before.”

Tyki raised an eyebrow.

“He wasn’t the fondest of his family.”

Tyki freezes.

“Of course, if I’m wrong feel free to tell the Earl about everything.”

“You’re interesting.”

“As are you.”

“What do you plan to do?”

“That would be telling.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Road?_

_Yes, Tyki?_

_Did you ever see The Fourteenth when you look at me?_

_Road smiles sadly._

_Why do you ask?_

_I saw a picture of him._

_How did you know it was him?_

_He was in front of a piano._

_Whose stories have you been listening to?_

_The Earl’s._

_He does like to talk about him, doesn’t he?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

/*chapter marking note, end chapter*/


	3. Chapter 3

/*chapter marking note, start chapter*/

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“A delivery for Marshall Yeegar?” Neah asks.

Allen nods distractedly. “I’m supposed to be delivering this briefcase to him.”

“Briefcase?” Neah taps it twice, feeling the vibrations in it. “That’s just a golem.”

Allen’s eyes sharpen. “They’re sending an exorcist for this?”

“He must want to meet you.”

“I don’t think he’s there to meet just me.”

“Did Komui say anything specific?”

“He told me to bring you along if I ‘deem it necessary’.”

“Which translates to… _‘bring Neah along, kay?’_?” Neah sighs. “Ugh. That annoying squid-face.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_He reminds me of Mana._

_Who, Marshall Yeegar?_

  1. _Yeegar. Who did you think I was referring to?_ Komui?



**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Pleasure, Dreams and Wrath are here.” Neah says quietly. “They haven’t seen you yet.”

“What about the Marshall?”

“It seems like he’s their target.”

“Can we get to him in time?” Allen asks urgently as they sprint toward the direction they just came from.

Neah stays silent. Allen hoped that the silence meant good things would happen.

He knew it wasn’t. Neah was rarely wrong in things like this.

They weren’t going to make it.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The Lord of the Millennium lives in search for you,_

_Looking for the Heart now, have you heard the news?_

_Maybe you stole it from him? I’ll see if it’s true._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Can you heal him?” Allen asks softly.

“He’s… broken. His mind is what’s gone. If it was physical…” Neah trails off.

“Will you at least be able to heal his wounds?”

Neah nods and sits by the window, the edges becoming black piano keys. His magic was always stronger if the medium was a piano.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_What else are you going to take from us?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“That’s the best I can do.”

“I don’t think that’s enough.”

“It never is.”

“We’ll just have to keep walking, right?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_So where do I go from here?_

_It doesn’t matter where. So long as you keep walking, you’ll get somewhere._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“They’re waging war.” Allen states.

“How?” Neah asks.

“Three exorcists died.”

“No.” Neah corrects him absently. “Two died. One was spared.”

“What? How did you—”

“There are some Innocence fragments that are completely loyal to the Heart, aren’t there?”

Allen nods hesitantly at the non-sequitur.

“How does one become a Fallen?”

“Why are you asking me this?” Allen asks. He was the one who knew a lot about Innocence, not Neah. Allen _had_ been one of the people who searched for the Innocence’s meaning. He just had more of a chance at success than most. He _was_ the Accommodator of the most accommodating Innocence after all.

“One of them is becoming a Fallen. I hear the Innocence screaming in _agony_. The volume of it astounds me.”

Allen feels a lump lodge itself in his throat but then explains. “One becomes a Fallen when they betray the memory of their Innocence or when a synchronization is forced to those incompatible to wield it.”

“ _How._ ” Neah repeats.

“If—if I for example, try to hurt the people and Akuma I swore to protect in succession while ignoring the warning signs that the innocence gives you. The people that Crown Clown stands for. The thing that both me and my Innocence were created to do. Like what’s Maria’s. If she stops singing for the Akumas, Lenalee if she stops—I don’t know— _running_? I didn’t even know what mine was until I started having piano lessons.”

Neah hums. It seems like the memory of Suman’s Innocence was vastly aligned with the Heart then.

“How can you identify what their memory’s allegiance is?”

“I can’t.” Allen denies factually. “The only person who would be able to tell would be the Accommodators themselves.”

Neah winces. “That would be hard.”

“Can you find him for me?”

“He’s in China.”

“But the war…”

“What do you plan to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ll have to decide.”

“Can you go in my stead?”

“And raise Bookman’s suspicions even more? No.”

“How much time do we have?”

“A week. Maybe more.”

“I just hope the skirmish will be over by then.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Three whole days of war and bloodshed._

_Three whole days of sleepless nights and rocky cushions._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How many died?”

“Far too many.”

“Lala had done a good job.”

“We had too little doctors.”

“Neah helped heal a lot of people too.”

“A tenth had been saved. The others…”

“Gone.”

“You know, I was actually expecting there to be much more Akumas.”

“…You were expecting something worse?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A reprieve is a momentary period of rest._

_Yet there’s trouble brewing in the horizon._

_Will it never stop?_

_Hasn’t fate played with us enough?_

_No. I don’t think fate ever will._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“A spar?” Kanda repeats.

Neah grins widely. “Yes.”

“With the Beansprout.”

“Yes.”

“He _agreed_ to this?”

“He did, actually.”

“This is pointless.”

Neah tilts his head. “He’s not that good with a sword. You can beat him up as much as you like.”

Kanda freezes then says brusquely, “…I’ll think about it.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Sir Baron?” Neah calls.

“What is it that you require Sir…?” Krory greets back formally.

Neah laughs lightly. “Just call me Neah. No ‘sirs’ no ‘misters’. Just Neah.”

Krory thinks for a moment then nods. “Neah, then. Though if you insist, please call me Krory. What is it that you require of me?”

“Are your fangs the only way for you to battle Akuma?” Neah asks bluntly

Krory nods, a fond expression gracing his features. He was most probably thinking of that lady Akuma again. “It is what had plagued me for so long, but is a very good weapon now.”

“Do you know how to use any other weapon?”

Krory blinks and slowly admits, “I know how to wield a spear but not much else beyond that.”

“A large spear or a staff with a sharp end?” Neah intones inquisitively.

“I can use the large one much better.”

Neah hums thoughtfully. That would be helpful. “Have you spoken to your Innocence yet?”

Krory blinks in confusion. “ _Converse_ with my Innocence?”

“I’ll take that as a no, then. Would you like to try to speak with it?”

“Your story about the Innocence in my castle, does it hold any weight?”

“It’s true. I heard it from the Heart’s First Champion himself.”

Or as close as one can get to him anyway.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So you found your medium?” Neah asks.

Lavi pouts. “Yes.”

“Then why do you sound so glum?”

“Its _ink_! Stupid _ink_. How can I cast magic with _ink_?”

“Let’s figure it out.” Neah grins.

Neah wasn’t surprised. Lavi was not a Bookman—a scribe—for nothing.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So we’re finally heading to Edo? How did they know where to look?”

“Cross apparently left paper trails.”

“He’s not that careless.”

“He wants to be found, doesn’t he?”

“I do wonder what he’s up to now. He’s got another one of those twisted plans of his, doesn’t he? He really should trust us more.”

“We don’t trust him that much either.”

“But we trust him much more than anybody else. That’s a lot.”

“Let’s just hope nobody dies in the process.”

“How about the Fallen’s countdown?”

“Three days, I think. I can’t judge, but if it sounds anything like insanity…”

“The travel will take about two and a half days. We’ll have to hope nothing would delay our trip.”

“How did your spar with Kanda go?”

Allen’s face fell flat. “You were there. Watching. And _laughing._ ”

“I was.” Neah replies pleasantly.

“Why did you have to ask?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Please spare me! I have a wife and a child!_

_What would you do in return?_

_I’ll help you. Just please! Spare me!_

_I’ll gladly take that bargain._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“We’re supposed to meet with someone called Anita.”

“Wasn’t she Cross’s lover before?”

“He’s had his fair share of lovers.”

Neah snorts. “Of course.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A body of a fallen angel._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How do you think we can stop it?” Neah frowns.

“We either let it run out of juice or separate Suman from the body. I don’t know what’s much worse. We have to save him.”

Neah looked pained. “Allen. His music isn’t—”

“We have to at least _try_.”

“I’m sorry.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Umm, Neah?”

“Yes?”

“Do you happen to have any children? Legitimate or otherwise?”

Neah frowns deeply. “Not that I know of. Why?”

“Because it seems like you do.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_How did you last beside the Earl with the face of a_ traitor _?_

_It must have been very hard_

_For them to separate you from me._

_Do you even know it?_

_How awful it must have been._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You’re back.” Tyki says amusedly.

“I am.” Neah says equally nonchalantly as he grips the Noah’s arm before it plunged into Allen’s chest cavity.

No matter how skilled Allen was with his Innocence, he was still no match for a fully awakened Noah. Especially this one. He could probably go toe to toe with Bonds (while they were separated) or Wrath but Pleasure or Dreams? Well, he had to reach critical point first and he hadn’t. Neah hadn’t really started to understand how Auguste managed to become dust instead of being destroyed—Pleasure seemed like he didn’t know about it happening, but that was probably because Auguste didn’t trust him. Maybe it’s because it’s the oldest piece of Innocence? Well, Neah didn’t actually see the whole thing happening. He _had_ been busy with the Akumas—hiding from them and redirecting them in general—when Allen and Lenalee had confronted the Fallen. Suman had somehow survived, but Tyki had done something to him that killed him.

“Are you angry?” Tyki asks mockingly. Neah hides a wince at the expression he sometimes sees in front of a mirror. Allen was right. Tyki looked very similar to him—Neah was much more handsome though, hands down.

“No. I’m disappointed.” Neah replies dispassionately. “Though you may be one of the more powerful Noah now, do you really think you can win against me?”

“I don’t expect to win in a head on battle.”

“Then could you please leave?” Neah asks nicely.

Tyki laughs. “You know what, maybe I will.”

Neah rolls his eyes. “Are you going to stay on that side forever?”

“Maybe.”

“You’re always free to choose, you know.”

“I know. It’s my power, remember?”

The statement startled a laugh out of Neah, one much rougher than the one he had practiced.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Can’t you heal the damage, Neah?”

“Allen, Tyki turned your Innocence into dust. _Innocence._ We all know how useless I am with things regarding Innocence. I can’t even touch the thing without burning myself.”

“That’s a first.”

“What is?”

“You actually admitted to being useless at something.”

“I’m good at everything that doesn’t _need_ Innocence.” Neah snaps back with no venom. He’s long accepted that inevitability. Two-thirds of the magic world was open to him, so why waste time lamenting the inability to do the other third when others didn’t even have more than one, or in some cases none?

Allen chuckles.

“How do you think you’d be able to get it back— _Ugh_ why is the world…spinning..?”

Then there was black.

Allen had fainted.

Neah grins.

He’d never let him live that down.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen slowly wakes up. He felt the bandages wrapping up his arms and upper torso shifting because of his movements.

“Oh, you’re awake.”

“Ugh, stop being so chipper so early in the morning.” Allen says in irritation.

“It’s the middle of the night, dear nephew.”

“Same thing applies. Where is this?”

“The Order’s Asian Branch.”

“Why was I sent here?”

“You were injured.” Neah says simply.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Two days.”

Allen panics. “Two—”

“Yes. It’s about time, too actually.”

“About time to what?”

“ _They’re_ going to need help.” Neah says grimly.

“Do they know I’m safe?”

“No. They think you’re dead. Thanks to Timcanpy’s video recordings, which were tampered by me, by the way.”

“Correct them for me, would you?”

“Why do you think I changed it in the first place?” Neah asks amusedly.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The Memory of the Innocence aren’t just pieces of the whole of the Heart._

_At the very beginning, the Innocence didn’t have memories._

_The Innocence were just pieces of Light Matter_

_But when Auguste—the Heart’s first champion_

_Had wielded the Heart and died to protect it,_

_An echo of his memories were imprinted on it._

_He had become much too important to the Heart._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What do you mean Edo’s swarming with Akuma!?”

“Exactly as I’ve said. There are so many melodies that they’ve become _noise.”_

Allen looked horror stricken. That was bad. Really really bad.

“How can we get there fast enough? You haven’t been there before! We can’t use the ark—”

“Allen, stop. Breathe. It’s no use if you panic. Calm down. Breathe in. Breathe out. There.”

“So what do I need to do?”

“The only thing you can do to help now is to get Auguste back. Do _everything_ you can to get him back.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Neah, shouldn’t you be somewhere else helping the others on the ship? I’m safe enough here.”

“I doubt that.”                                               

“The others need your help, Neah.” Allen insists.

“I don’t think they’re going to need help _now._ ”

“Neah.” Allen scolds sternly painfully reminiscent of Mana.

Neah sighs. “Fine. I’ll do some errands here and there first, though. I’ll be taking Tim for a while, okay?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah steps out of the gate he created in his room at HQ and closes it immediately afterwards. He opens the door, coming face to face with a very familiar visage.

“Um, Neah!” Johnny shouts with no small amount of surprise. “I thought you were—”

Neah shushes him. “I don’t have time to explain. Do you know where Lala is?”

“Lala? She’s either in her room or in the hospital wing. There’s still a lot of injured people from the war, Neah.” Johnny adds unsurely.

Neah nods. “Thanks.” He sprints to the hospital wing. He hadn’t heard her music from her room.

Johnny was left more than a little bit startled at the abrupt arrival and departure of the eccentric ‘accommodator’.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Head Nurse, may I borrow Lala?”

The Nurse regards him suspiciously. She had never really liked him much. “Why do you need my best doctor?”

Neah smiles, pride rising from his chest. “She’s still _my_ student, Head Nurse. Also, we need a bit of help in Edo.”

“Edo? How, pray tell, would you be able to get there in time?”

“Ask no questions, I tell no lies.”

“Fine. Just—just return her in one piece.” The Head Nurse said with finality. She was one of the kinder people in this building, but not necessarily the gentlest.

“Can I ask another favor?”

“What now?”

“Can you not tell anyone I borrowed Lala? Tell anyone who asks that she left a week or so before.”

The nurse looks like she wanted to say something but obviously decided against it. “I’m not even going to ask.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How much have you learned?”

“A lot.”

“Will you be able to help me heal a hundred or so extensively injured people?”

Lala hesitates. “Do you think we can?”

“I _know_ we can. We just need to have a bit of faith now, shouldn’t we?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah was a little startled at what he saw when they arrived. Miranda was crying. Lenalee’s feet were adorned with spiraling black paint/tattoo of sorts. There was a yellow reprogrammed Akuma that called herself ‘Chomesuke’—Neah just knew Cross’s handiwork was going to turn up sooner or later. Cross had an unhealthy obsession with yellow creatures. Lavi was tiredly cradling his arm. Bookman was standing a little haggardly by the side. Anita and her bodyguard were there too, saying teary farewells.

“Wait! Miranda!” Neah calls urgently.

Their heads snapped to their direction so fast they could have gotten whiplashes.

“Lala!? _Neah!?”_

“Who are they?”

“They’re doctors of a sort. Good ones.” Lavi states brightly, _hopefully_ , earning several glances. “How’d you get here?”

Neah looked at him pointedly and didn’t say anything.

“Can you bring everyone here?” Neah asks.

Anita smiles sadly. “I don’t think they could be healed anymore.”

Lala smiles. “Don’t lose hope yet, lady. We’re very good um, _doctors._ ”

“Mahoja, can you call them up here?” Anita orders her bodyguard.

Mahoja nods stiffly, obviously disbelieving.

It was in no time that most of the crew were gathered by the deck. They looked very confused and some of them drunk. Neah was seated by the steering wheel’s railings, the wooden surface turned into piano keyboard with reversed colors.

“Miranda?”

“Y-yes..?” She asks weakly.

“Can you restore the time gradually, so that their bodies won’t go into shock?”

Miranda thinks for a bit. “I-I w-will try.”

“Lala, are you ready? You can do this. You just have to have faith in yourself. Remember all the times you succeeded. Sing from the bottom of your heart and I can guarantee that you’d be able to do it.”

Lala breathes in determinedly and nods.

“Miranda, it’s time.”

She sobs softly as she releases her hold on their time.

The powerful song doused all the injuries before they even surfaced, large gaping holes from the Akumas and the taint from dark matter were instantly purged by the song. Neah’s hands danced over the piano keys artfully, keeping all his attention to the sounds the injured crew were making as well as the damaged ship. Lala’s voice was prevailing and intricate, dominating and encompassing, going through the correct motions in healing each and every injury painstakingly.

It was a lot of work and Neah knew he couldn’t heal them all enough for all of them to survive. Some of them were injured much too extensively too many times. There were some though, that were a bit more mildly injured than the others.

In the end, they managed to save Anita and her bodyguard and seventeen other crew members of the forty or so who were on the ship.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Wha—” Anita started.

“I _told you_ they were good doctors.” Lavi said smugly in the best ‘ _I told you so_ ’ tone in his arsenal. Which was damned well impressive for someone who had taken on many personas before.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You need to go back to China.” Neah decides, his breathing’s rhythm going nearly vivac­e though in decrescendo. Lala had already fallen asleep in exhaustion.

“Why? We’re healthy enough to continue on.” A crew member protests.

“Do you expect Edo to be better than what happened to the boat? That was just two level threes and a few more lower leveled Akumas. I can hear the music from Edo and all I can hear is noise.” Neah says factually, knowing that showing even a little bit of emotion could turn the tides of opinion.

“We won’t let their sacrifices go to waste!”

“Going there means going to your deaths. Would you waste the lives given by the people who lost theirs?” Lavi inputs.

Thank you, rabbit. It’s times like this that Neah appreciated the manipulative streak Lavi had from his many an experience.

“How _can_ we go back? We don’t have enough people to run this boat.”

Lavi realizes something. “Why don’t we use the Ark?” 

Neah and Bookman both glance at him sharply, chiding and suspiciously respectively.

“ _Ark_ , you say?” Bookman mutters quietly. Lavi winces. He hadn’t told the panda anything yet. He’d probably receive some sort of scolding. To be fair, he didn’t mean to keep it a secret. He just _kindofsortofforgottoremember._ Eidetic memory only applied to details he wanted to recall after all.

Neah raises an eyebrow. He had expected Lavi to already tell on him. “Maybe we should. Where do you think they’ll be safe?”

“The harbor where we departed from is far enough, I think.”

Bookman’s eyes said something Neah didn’t really like.

“I’ll explain later.” Neah pacifies.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah had to make sure that nobody got lost on the Ark. He had a bad feeling about all of this. There was something wrong with the Ark and he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

They _weren’t_ …

Neah’s face met his palm. He shouldn’t have been so lax. Now the Earl would have a way of using the Ark without needing him at all. Dreams would have probably hijacked the whole thing when he wasn’t looking. A grave oversight in parking the ark in the Noah’s stronghold.

Well too bad he still had the master controls to the place.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_What is it?_

_Hm. I think you already know the answer to your questions, don’t you?_

_So what I think is true?_

_Depends on what you’re thinking._

_You didn’t die, did you?_

_How very perceptive._

_Why are you on this side? Are you here to betray them?_

_My, Bookman, you almost sound concerned._

_I’m not. I’m just looking out for my apprentice_

_Is that all Lavi is to you?_

_…yes._

_How very cruel._

_It’s our way of life._

_No wonder_ he _died._

 _Do_ not _speak of_ him _so_ lightly _._

_There’s proof to the contrary._

_A furrowing of brows._

_Are you still cross—pun completely intended—with Cross?_

_Bookman stayed silent._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

 “Cross told me to guide you.” Chomesuke says.

“Oh?”

“Wait—shh.”

“Level threes.” Neah’s lips purse.

“How did you know?”

“I can hear them.” Neah says simply, not bothering to explain the confusing explanation at all.

“Hear— _wait!_ You’re the Four—”

“Cross blabbed again, didn’t he?” Neah interrupts as he furtively glanced at their companions. None were in hearing range, thankfully.

Chomesuke grimaces at the hard look sent to her then drops her volume. “He did. He had told me about you and the white one.”

“Of course he did. He was drunk again wasn’t he?”

“When is he not?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Lavi. Stop.” Neah whispers urgently as he grabs Lavi’s arm.

“What?”

“Neither you or Krory are strong enough to defeat any level threes yet. Even with all the magic tricks you can do—we don’t even have enough ink for you to use. Lenalee’s injured by her innocence—which I can’t heal, by the way—and Miranda’s isn’t even offensive.”

“We have to at least _try_!”

“Do you _want_ to die?”

“Of course not!”

“Then let _me_ handle them.”

“I thought you were a doctor?” Chaoji asks puzzlingly. He had been one of the crew members that had completely insisted on going. He was going to go with them had Neah not healed the others and he had thought that he hadn’t needed Neah’s help. How naïve of him.

“I’m a Jack-of-all-trades.”

“Master of None?”

Neah grins. “Oh. I wouldn’t say that.”

“What ‘master’ skill is that then?” Lavi challenges.

“Oh, I think you already know. Lala, can you sing for me?”

“Where’s Miss Maria?”

“Back to her original accommodator.” Neah says cryptically.

The battle was over in minutes.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You didn’t tell me you were that strong!” Lavi accuses.

“That wasn’t me. That was Lala. I only accompanied her song.” Neah replies as the Akuma was cleansed. “Did the Akuma see me, Lavi?”

Lavi falls into thought, replaying the battle in his mind. There were quirks of having eidetic memory after all.  

“No. It didn’t look at you even once.”

Neah sighs in relief. “We can’t have the Earl finding anything specific about me yet.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What’s wrong, Chomesuke-san?”

“The Earl. He’s calling us. To the capital. We have to hurry.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Where are we?”

“A safe house.”

“I don’t think this is safe enough.”

“Why?”

“There’s a reason why this place is the Earl’s stronghold.”

Chomesuke stills and hears wicked voices from outside.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

She nods and grudgingly acknowledges his point.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Lavi, can you fight Tyki for me? I don’t want to meet the guy right now, especially with Lala so tired.”

“Tyki?”

Neah grins. “You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

“He isn’t one of those creepy dark dudes, is he?”

“Hey! I take offence to that!” Neah protests then coughs. “He is. One of the stronger ones, too.”

Lavi cursed.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What _is_ that floating violet thing?” Bak asks, cradling an injured Fou, to no one in particular with no small amount of curiosity, his inner scientist already running through theories and hypotheses.

It was a gate to the Ark. And it wasn’t one of Neah’s. That didn’t mean well for anybody.

Allen doesn’t say anything. He knew that a single slip up could very well endanger Neah and all their friends. They weren’t going to stay in the Black Order any longer anyway if Neah had any say in it.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How are you going to get to Edo in time?” Bak asks as he looks on his scientists who were perusing the scans on Allen’s body.

Allen smiles fleetingly. “Do you know who Neah is?”

Bak blinks. “Yes. I met him while you were unconscious. He was pretty eccentric.”

“He’s in Edo now.”

Bak doesn’t understand. “How?”

“The same way I’m going there.”

“Is it related to the floating thing that the Akuma came out of earlier?”

“Yes.”

Bak purses his lips. “Just make sure you aren’t going to die.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I hear Cross’s team in the battlefield.” Marie intones as his hands are placed on his headphones.

“Looks like they’re having a tough time.” Tiedoll says lightly. “Yuu-kun, why don’t you go and help them?”

Kanda ‘tsks’ in annoyance but proceeds anyway.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Black towering beings_

_On a checkered board_

_Little bugs to the titans_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Lenalee’s in a crystal again!” Miranda gasps out.

“A crystal? Again?” Neah inquires as he tends to the injured.

“It happened a while ago. The Innocence protected Lenalee of its own accord.” Krory explains.

Neah notes to himself that he needed to ask Auguste about that.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“An Ark Gate is going to open somewhere in the next few minutes.” Neah notes quietly, listening for all the battle happening on the battlefield. He wasn’t about to jump into the fray just because they were on the losing side. The Earl could probably see him if he were to. That wouldn’t do anything productive.

The Earl had unleashed a large dome of black energy that annihilated the capital city. He had stayed within Miranda’s Time Out so he didn’t really get any sort of damage.

Then he heard a very familiar song audible only to his ears and laughs to himself quietly.

“I can’t believe you’re so lazy, Cross.” He mutters and casts a Magdala Curtain on himself. It required constant concentration so he didn’t really like using it at all.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_We meet again, eh?_

_How long has it been?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Enjoying the show?” Neah yawns as he seated himself on a broken house’s ledge just above Cross’s position.

Cross rolls his eyes and puffs a cigarette.

“As if _you’re_ doing anything.”

“What do you plan to do with the Ark?”

“I’m going to destroy the Plant once and for all.”

“Really.” Neah smirks. “How do you plan on doing that? _Without_ my help.”

Cross’s eyebrow twitches. He’d actually partially expected that. “Why aren’t you going to?”

“Would you really sic the Earl on me so early, Cross?” Neah pouts childishly.

“Then maybe my idiotic apprentice would help.”

“He’s _not_ your apprentice, though.” Neah corrects. “He learned everything he needed to long before you even met him.”

“Technically he is, though.”

“When are technicalities ever really true?”

“Can’t you just open a gate to the Ark?” Cross complains.

“Nope.” Neah denies cheerfully. “I’m afraid my remote control was overridden. The only way to override the override is to get to my Piano room.”

“How would you get there if your controls don’t work?”

“We have Timcanpy, right?”

Cross pinches his nose bridge in exasperation. “Yes.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Tiedoll, Kanda and Noise entered the battlefield armed to the teeth.

“You need to be nicer to Tiedoll.” Neah chides.

“What are you, my mother?”

“He at least deigns it important enough to help.”

“Unlike you and me, you mean?”

Neah laughs.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Allen’s arrived.” Neah announces brightly.

“Are you going to go greet him?”

“Maybe later. He’s still having very nice reunions with his friends.”

“Is that jealousy I hear?”

“Of course not!”

“Of course.” Cross grins.

Neah huffs.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Neah!” Allen calls.

“Allen.” Neah greets pleasantly. “Is that Auguste?”

Allen lifts his claw and nods.

“Neah, you bastard.” Lavi curses, interrupting the ‘joyful’ reunion. “You didn’t even lift a finger to help! That creepy doppelganger dude of yours nearly skewered me!”

Neah appeared to look offended, which he wasn’t, not really. “Well I’m sorry if I didn’t want Lala to go into the battlefield. I can’t exactly kill Akumas without Lala or Maria unless, well... You know what would happen.”

“Then why didn’t you—”

“Kanda!” Neah exclaims pleasantly, purposely cutting off the redhead. “Noise Marie as well! I’ve heard stories about you.”

“Stories?” Noise frowns.

“I hear you use music as your Innocence.” Neah asks giddily. “How do you use it? What does it do? How versatile is it? What is your medium? It’s about strings attached to your fingers, if I remember correctly. Can you hear music as well? Can you hear what _I_ hear? Can you differentiate people from other different people?”

Marie looked overwhelmed.

Neah suddenly looks sheepish.  “Oh. Sorry. I’ve never met anyone who had abilities similar to mine before.”

Marie shakes his head. “It’s fine.”

Then he proceeded to answer the questions as Neah repeated them a bit more slowly.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Miranda. You can release their time again.” Neah says gently to the shaking lady.

She nods as she gives Lala her cue to sing, having rested enough for another round of curative songs.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Lenalee. Are you feeling alright?” Allen asks concernedly.

“Yes. It’s just my legs. I can probably run though they feel very weak. I have Lala and Neah to thank for that.”

“You don’t have to push yourself so hard.”

“I _have_ to.” Lenalee argues quietly. “You’re all trying so hard to protect everyone and all I do is stay here being useless baggage.”

“Don’t say that, Lenalee.” Allen argues. “You’re like a big sister to me. You’ve protected me for the longest time. Now it’s our turn to protect you.”

Lavi interrupts the spiel while dragging a reluctant— _annoyed—_ Kanda while Neah was standing by the side with a supportive smile.

“Don’t forget your big brothers, too!”

Lenalee laughs.

A pumpkin headed umbrella appears, then white light flashes.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_They’ll never leave us alone, wouldn’t they?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah instantly recognizes where they are and casts a quick Magdala Curtain onto himself before anyone could register that he was there.

Lero probably hadn’t seen him, but if all this went on, there would be a shrinking chance that he would go out of the Ark anonymous. He didn’t really care if anyone figured out that he was the Fourteenth, but the longer they stay clueless, the larger the chances his side would win.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Alle~n.” Neah sings.

“Neah.” Allen exhales lowly and his relief was palpable. They were walking along a corridor in the Ark and they were just making small talk. Allen didn’t have trouble pretending not to know where the doors that lead to wherever because most of the passages in the Ark had been randomly changed by Dreams—or Road depending on who’s talking—so he wasn’t really pretending.

“Of course. Who else would it be?” Neah replies cheekily.

“Wouldn’t they hear you?”

“Do you think I’m _that_ sloppy?”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Remember when you asked me if I would choose otherwise?”

Allen’s mouth opens and closes but no sounds come out. “W-what?”

“I bestow upon you, the privileges of the ‘Musician’.” Neah declares dramatically as Timcanpy jumped from Neah’s shoulder to Allen’s.

Allen blinks. Neah was suddenly out of sight and the others were looking at him worriedly. He waved off their concerns and smiled, urging them onwards.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Wrath.” Allen notes. Skinn Bolic was in the middle of the room—with _rainbows_ and _stars_ in the background—looking grumpy and well, _angry_.

“I’ll deal with him.” Kanda declares.

“Then we’ll help you fight it’d be easier that—”

“You. Go. On. Ahead.” Kanda stresses.

“No, really we insist—”

“Go. Or I’ll cut you down first.” Kanda states murderously, his eyes glinting sharply.

“He’s threatening his own comrades!” Lero looked utterly surprised.

Neah—invisible to the others—laughs.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Kanda.” Neah calls to him selectively.

The samurai growls as he parries a blow from the Noah of Wrath who freezes in place. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Keeping an eye on _Yuu_.” Neah grins, knowing that the Japanese swordsman wouldn’t get it. It was pretty lame, actually but he just couldn’t help it. It was a classic!

Kanda glowers at him.

“What did you do to him?”

“He’s going to be a puppet for a while, although he’s undoubtedly very confused right now.” Neah says offhandedly. The technique was Maria’s as well—he was very good at thieving from Maria. She probably wouldn’t have minded anyway.

“Puppet? On whose strings?”

“Mine.”

“…can you do that to _anyone_?”

Neah shook his head. “Anyone can break out of it. They just need to have a stronger will than the one with the strings. Fortunately, this one is more _anger_ than true, raw will.”

Kanda’s pursed lips turned into a small smirk. “No need to worry then.”

Neah smiled languidly and let him believe what he’d like to believe.

“What are you going to do?” Kanda breathes out. The stupid guy had a tattoo like thing just above his heart and Neah doubted it was something as simple as just a tattoo. It seemed pretty symbolic, Neah didn’t know what it stood for, though.

“The Noahs are incomplete.” Neah replies absently as he draws a circle around the frozen Skinn with a stick from who knows where.  “They are only aware of the boundless negative feelings from Noah during the three days of darkness. There were thirteen original Memories of Noah, did you know? They’ve been incarnated again and again for seven-thousand years, their hatred festering like a rotting wound.”

Kanda looks away, he looked slightly surprised at the information.

“However,” Neah says as he stands up and started drawing a cross-shaped figure in the air, as if in prayer. “In the most recent incarnation, the number had been mixed up a little. There are Fourteen Memories now.”

“You said there were thirteen.” Kanda frowns.

Neah chuckles and repeats his explanation. “There was. The Fourteenth only appeared in the most recent incarnation cycle.” His hands met as if saying a prayer then stood up with a stretch. “He wasn’t as loyal to the family as the rest of them were, though. The hatred that festered in the other Noahs hadn’t been a part of his memories but the gratitude and hope that Noah had felt when God chose to spare him and his kin. Approximately thirty-five years ago, The Fourteenth almost managed to kill the whole clan save for the eldest and the Earl himself.”

“A Noah fighting other Noahs—why the hell are you telling me this?”

Neah smiles. “One thing.”

“What?” Kanda had enough of this.

“There’s only one important thing I haven’t told you.” He pauses dramatically, earning a curious gaze from Kanda that Allen had long since learned to grow out of, and smiles at his rapt—wary, rather, but he liked the term rapt better—audience. He bows elegantly. “Nice to meet you. My name is Neah Walker. I’m the Fourteenth Noah.”

The circle glowed a soft white light as the skin of the Noah of Wrath recede and became white.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Kanda immediately draws his non-existent sword then his body freezes.

“Did you really think that I’d let you fight me in the condition you’re in?” Neah scolded sternly.

Kanda looked serious and scoffs.

“I’m not here to fight. Honestly.” Neah says what he said the first time they met. Kanda grits his teeth at the memory. “I’ve helped you guys too much to just let all that effort go to waste. Anyway, we don’t have time. Shall we, old friend?”

“We are not friends, Noah.” Kanda grits out. Neah smiles. It didn’t reach his eyes. Kanda had to convince himself he didn’t care.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Ah, he’s awake. Good luck, Ka—” Neah pauses as he watches Skinn wake up then grins. “ _Yuu-kun._ ”

And was met with a punch to the face.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

The next room was a bit more destroyed than the last. Jasdevi were— _was?_ —there, in their combined form and Krory was made of blood, oddly. Canisters of Akuma Blood Oil were scattered somewhere and Neah couldn’t help but stare.

After defeating Jasdevi somehow, Krory went back to his body and collapsed. He sat beside the man in the Iron Maiden and started to sing lullabies and healing spells.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Welcome, Exorcists.” Tyki announces grandly as he takes on his sophisticated and Lordly persona. “Have a seat.”

There was a long table in the middle of the room with an abundance of food on it. Neah had to stop himself from drooling. It had been so long since he’d eaten something decent what with the war and all. The others were immediately on guard, but Tyki had somehow managed to make them sit down on the table.

“You, too.” Tyki motioned to Neah’s general location. Neah had to wonder how he managed to find him and noticed that his grip on the Magdala Curtain was loosening—due to the sinfully distracting assortment on the table—but he managed to reinforce the illusion before anyone else saw him there.

“Who are you talking to, Tyki?” Road asks curiously eying the spot which Neah occupies.

 Neah puts a finger to his lips and smiles sadly.

“No one.” Tyki shakes his head as if shaking away a thought. “I thought I saw a shadow.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_You have them by the palm of your hand again. Dancing like willing little dolls for the sheer purpose of pleasing you?_

_Control? It’s not about control. They consider me someone to protect. They’re not dolls on strings. They’re human._

_They’re living breathing_ puppets _to you!_

 _It’s sad that you can only think so negatively, **Heart.** I wonder what that means for the side of _good.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Do you _need_ to fight?” Neah laments as he throws his hands in grand gestures. Loudly.

Allen and Tyki blinks as they pause in their fight, Tyki in mid-swing.

“I mean, there’s absolutely no reason for you to fight!” Neah declares, hidden from sight and ear. He had erected an illusion around the two who were fighting so that it still seemed that the two were fighting. Lenalee and Chaoji still looked very worried so he knew the illusion was holding.

“Then what do you want us to do?” Tyki drawls, annoyed that the tense atmosphere he created was so easily dispelled.

“I don’t know, play poker?” Neah suggests lamely.

Allen snorts as he dusts himself off, opening a door to the Neah’s Music Room. “I’ll… just go on ahead.”

Tyki yawns as he lies down on the floor, closing his eyes. “Can you keep up the illusion that we’re fighting?”

Neah grins. They were so adorable.

Tyki suddenly sits up, slight worry marring his features. “There isn’t any damage being dealt to the Ark.”

Neah yawns and pieces of the room suddenly burst into pieces, following the illusionary fight. Even if the Ark wasn’t in his control anymore didn’t mean he couldn’t control it anymore. “Did you say something?”

Tyki smirks and lays back down. “Nevermind.”

They fell into a small silence, watching the illusion everybody else was, with Tyki giving the occasional suggestion as to how the fight should have been going. It was getting more unbelievable by the minute but Neah loved giving a show. Tyki snapping and letting his memories take over? How absurd.

“So are you going to go with us?” Neah prompts as he finished the last touches on the ‘full noah’ Tyki fighting Allen.

“Why should I?” Tyki drawls as a reply.

“No one will win this war if we don’t do something about it.”

“That’s _your_ problem.”

“Is it? How about those friends of yours from the mining area?”

“…they’re of no consequence.”

“You are an awful liar.”

“I never had the need to lie before.” Tyki admits without pause. Neah wonders if he really is that bad at lying. No doppelganger of his should be a bad liar, though that was just really vanity talking.

“Exactly. So will you join the third side of this war?”

Tyki hums. “You’ll need to convince me more.”

Neah huffs. “You _could_ make it easier for me. I have a lot more responsibilities than you would think. I _hate_ responsibilities.”

“Don’t count on it. I’ll stay quiet about you, though.”

“Is Wisdom already incarnated?”

“…Wisdom?”

Neah blinks. “They… haven’t told you about the History and workings of Noahs?”

Tyki purses his lips. “Not much.”

“Then _I_ will tell you. Call it an incentive.”

Tyki laughs at his persistence but Neah could hear his song writhe in uncertainty.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_You weren’t as unaffected by our similarities as I thought._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How long do we have to talk?” Tyki asks.

“Not much.” Neah admits. “So we’ll talk more later. If you want to … just call my name. I’ll probably hear it. Just make sure you aren’t going to kill me, okay?”

“That sounded stalker-ish.”

Neah laughs. “As if I’d ever stalk you. I have much too many things to do to go waste time on such questionable activities.”

“Then I accept that offer.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Thousands of dreams rise up and expand,_

_We are the ones who let them grow._

_Golden threads weaving the curtain tresses,_

_Light shines upon us, like an everlasting warmth._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen gazes at the ivory white and powder-blue room, imagining Neah manically decorating it and obsessing over color schemes. He laughs. Timcanpy flies to the reversely colored piano then opens his mouth as a holographic circular thing appeared as it was turning slowly.

Allen recognized it as the secret alphabet that he, Mana and Neah created when they were younger. He breathes out a laugh. Neah was always so dramatic and cautious. Not even Cross knew what the lines stood for.

“Oi, idiotic brat.” Cross calls to the communicator in his ear.

“Marian.” Allen acknowledges with a small smile.

“Stop the download, already! I can’t stall the Earl forever.”

“Allen, you’re alright!” Lenalee cries. The proximity of their voices were concerning.

“Cross! What are you doing to Lenalee!?” Allen accuses. It was entirely plausible! What was Cross doing to Lenalee?

“Nothing, you brat! There isn’t much to stand on here.”

“Allen! This isn’t what you think it is!”

“Just stop the download, brat or don’t you want to save your friends?”

His eyes sharpened as he truly realized that the Ark that Neah adored was crumbling at an alarming rate and all of their newly found friends were stuck in some limbo or worse, dead.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_ameliorant tunes dance,_

_white stones restart,_

_bright skies restored,_

_fireflies flying through the notes to carry_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Allen and Neah were in a room separate from Cross, Lenalee and Krory. Neah had explained to him how to create a room to suit his own liking and Allen didn’t really understand Neah’s need for secrecy. Although he was more than a little thankful that Neah had taken time to teach him since controlling the Ark was a very wonderful privilege to have.

“ _Dinnertime~!_ ” Allen hears Lavi’s voice call through one of the monitor glasses in the Piano Room. “ _Pasta! Chicken! Mitarashi Dango!_ ”

“ _What are you doing, you stupid rabbit?_ ”

“ _If it’s about food, Allen always comes!_ ” Lavi obnoxiously declares.

Neah smiles at Allen’s relieved face.

“Do you want to go to them already?” Neah inquires amusedly then says chidingly. “You should spend more time with people your age, my dear nephew.”

Allen huffs. “ _My_ age? How old do you think I am? They’re more _your_ mental age.”

“I am appalled that you think _I_ think like a hormonal teenager!”

They laugh.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_A small silence._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Can you tell the Order that you didn’t find the Plant?” Neah asks wearily. _Tiredly._

Cross shakes his head. “They have impressive intelligence gathering networks. It wouldn’t be good if they find me lying about something they’re already sure of.”

Neah frowns. “It’s very worrying what the Order would do if they get their hands on the Plant.”

Cross puffs out a smoke. “Why not lock the room? They haven’t found it yet. If—”

Neah stands up abruptly, cutting off whatever it was Cross was about to say. “It’s time.”

Cross blinks.

“For?”

“We’re going to leave the Order.” Neah declares.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_This war—_

_—game?—_

_—has gone on long enough._

_…are all the pieces already gathered?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

 “We’re leaving?” Allen asks, not entirely surprised. He’d expected this to happen sometime soon. The war was building up already on both sides after all. They needed to prepare the Third Side.

“Yes. We’re taking the Ark and the Plant with us.”

“Wouldn’t they find that suspicious?”

“ _What_ would they find suspicious?”

“That I can control the Ark and have a connection to _The Fourteenth._ ”

Neah snorts. “Well, I’m _The_ Fourteenth. If they have any problems, they should talk to _me_ about it.”

Allen chuckles. “I don’t think they’d even think of that at all.”

“Are you going to say your farewells?”

Allen hesitates. “Wouldn’t they find that too obvious?”

“Then say goodnight instead.”

“I don’t think they would realize that it’s a goodbye.”

“Exactly.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“The exorcists are in surprisingly good shape for people who went through several days of nothing but fighting.”

“Well, Miss Lala and Sir Neah were with them.”

“I thought Miss Lala had been here just before the fight in Edo. How did she get there so quickly?”

“Apparently there was something called the Ark.”

“Ark?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Yuu-kun!”

“Call me that again and I’ll kill you.” Kanda growls.

“Why haven’t you told anyone what I told you in the Ark?”

Kanda looks away.

“Come on. Tell me!” Neah stubbornly insists.

“Tch. It’s not like you’re an enemy.” Kanda mutters almost incoherently. Neah’s smiles blindingly.

“Oh and Kanda?”

“What?” He huffs irritatedly.

“Good night.” Neah gives him a soft smile.

Kanda frowns and wonders why it felt like a farewell.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_I wonder if this will set back all the work I’ve put into making friends._

_Don’t be so pessimistic, Neah. You underestimate them._

_What do you know about it, Cross?_

_I was in their position once, you know._

_Do you blame me?_

_No. I never did. Should I have?_

_Were you angry?_

_Really..?_

_That’s—_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Kooomuii!” Lavi shouts with a disgruntled Kanda in tow. “Can you fix our Innocences now!?”

“I’m sorry, sir.” A researcher speaks contritely. “But there are so many things that need to be analyzed and a ton of requests like that are piling up. We don’t have enough people to deal with your request now.”

Lavi pouts and protests. Loudly.

“Lavi!” Allen calls. “I thought you were still in the hospital wing.”

Lavi flinches minutely. “I was released!”

“That’s a lie isn’t it?” Allen politely points out.

“I was released already.” Lavi repeats stubbornly.

Allen laughs, though there was something in the tone that Lavi couldn’t place.

“Ok. Whatever you say.” Allen smiles. “Do you know where Lenalee is?”

“I think she’s still in the hospital wing.”

“Thanks Lavi. Good night. To both of you.”

Lavi blinks. “Um, Good night to you, too.”

Kanda frowns.

What was going on here?

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_This place has been good to us._

_It has._

_Would you regret leaving?_

_No. They can handle themselves._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Lenalee?” Allen pronounces lowly, so that he wouldn’t wake anyone up.

“She’s still asleep.” Lala says from beside him, her volume down. Allen nearly jumps in surprise.

“Um, can you tell me when she’d wake up?”

“She was extensively injured.” Lala says factually, _professionally_. Sometimes Allen had a hard time looking at Lala and associating her with one of the best Doctors the Order had to offer. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t wake up until tomorrow.”

Allen falls silent. “Has Neah already told you?”

Lala hesitates but then smiles a small smile, her eyes filled with remorse. “He has. We’re leaving aren’t we?”

Allen smiles sadly.  “Aren’t you going to say goodbye?”

“I already said my goodbyes.”

“Do you think they realized it yet?”

Lala shakes her head. “Not likely.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Are you having second thoughts?_

_Is leaving really necessary?_

_No. You could always stay._

_I’ve told you a dozen times already, Neah. I’m not leaving you alone._

_A grateful smile._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

The next morning the three of them were gone without a trace.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“They ran.” Leverrier grinds out.

“General Cross came with them?”

“Yes.”

“Put out a capture-on-sight order. We need to find them.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

/*chapter marking note, end chapter*/


	4. Chapter 4

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What do you mean they left!?” Lenalee cries. “They wouldn’t have just—”

Lavi’s eye widens then says, “They said goodnight to a lot of people. I asked around.”

Lenalee sniffs and her face shutters blankly. “This is their home! Why did they leave? Neah…”

“—is a Noah.” Kanda interrupts. Lavi thought he must be feeling the aftereffects of ‘betrayal’. He most certainly would have felt the same way if he were less informed of the situation.

“Wha— _Kanda!_ ” Lavi exclaims.

“I never swore secrecy to the bastard.”

“They must have a reason.” Lavi protests. “He told me that they weren’t exactly betting on the Order anyway.”

“Tch.”

“What do you mean Neah is a Noah?” Lenalee asks somewhat hesitantly.

“He’s—” Lavi hesitates, then lets out the words in a rush. “They’re not on either side. Like the Bookmen, only more proactive. They want to end the war on the best terms, but they’re not asking for help. I don’t know what they call themselves though.”

“We have to help them, then.” Lenalee says resolutely.

Kanda’s lips purse but his eyes were alight were agreement. Lavi wondered when Kanda had started thinking of them as... whatever the hell Kanda thought of them as.

“The Order isn’t the nicest…”

“Even if it means leaving Komui behind?” Lavi asks with a raised eyebrow.

She falters. Komui had given her much too much…

“Ask Komui to join us then.” Lavi prompts, effectively reading her.

“You’re coming with us?”

Lavi grinned. “The best place to record is with the one with the most information. Of course!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Shall we start this never ending symphony?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So, we’ve left.” Allen states. “What are we going to do now?”

Neah yawns lazily. “We’re going to gather all the Innocence and all the Noahs.”

“…what?”

“Do you know what anti-matter is?”

“Stuff with matter, they cancel each other out?”

Neah nodded. “He said that magical ‘matter’ was Innocence and Dark matter is magical ‘anti-matter’. So when you gather everything in one place, both will cease to exist. Cross was the one who figured it out.”

“What evidence did he have?”

“When Noahs crush bits of Innocence, a part gets… corroded with it.”

“So the damage goes both ways?”

Neah nods.

Allen blinks. “The success of that plan means I’ll lose my arm and Lala’s… ”

Neah sighs. “We can always spare some.”

“Doesn’t that mean there’s supposed to be a dark matter equivalent of Lala’s Innocence somewhere?”

Neah’s lips quirk up. “You forget that I have Dark matter in my body as well.”

“Ah. But wouldn’t that upset the balance?”

“I don’t know. We have to ask Cross.”

“How did they not notice that they get corroded as well?” Allen asks confusedly. “I know that there aren’t exactly a limited amount of Dark Matter but Innocence is a different matter altogether!”

Neah shrugs. “I don’t know. You’re the expert.”

“My studies are a decades too outdated.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“We’re going to look for them.” Lenalee states quietly lest someone hear them.

“Why are you telling me this?” Komui asks gently. He already knew they were going to do so. It just wasn’t them if they didn’t even try.

“We want you to come with us, brother.” She pleads.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“There needs to be someone to reign in those superiors in the order even if I act just as a small buffer.” Komui says. “I can’t let anybody else get hurt. I’m sure those boys can protect you better than I can now.”

“No! They can’t—”

Komui shushes her. “It’ll be fine, Lenalee.”

Lenalee nods quietly.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Brother says he needs to stay.” Lenalee whispers.

Lavi sighs in understanding. It seemed like the most prudent choice but… “He can take care of himself, Lenalee.”

“I know that! It’s just…”

“You’d rather know that he’s really safe.”

Lenalee nods.

“Don’t worry. We can always get him later.” Lavi reassures.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How do we find them if they don’t want to be found?” Lavi groans. “I played hide and seek with Lala once, I couldn’t even find her until dinner!”

“You’re such a child, you stupid rabbit.”

Lenalee falls in thought. “What about Bookman? Wouldn’t he want to go with us?”

Lavi shakes his head. “The old Panda wants me to stay with the fourteenth while he stays at the Order so that he would be able to better record history or something of the sort.”

Lenalee frowns, unsettled by the information. “What do you mean? Aren’t you guys going to help?”

Lavi smiles somewhat self-depreciatingly. “We’re _impartial_ scribes of history, but I’m just an apprentice. I can get away with lots of things that the old panda can’t.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What did you to Wrath?” Allen suddenly asks.

Neah blinks. “I made him talk to his Noah’s Memory.”

“Can you do that with Tyki as well?”

“You sound pretty concerned about someone who tried to kill you more than once.”

Allen huffs. “Don’t even _think_ it. It just seems like he isn’t that much of an evil guy.”

“If he can sit still long enough for me to do it, then I would.”

“He sat still long enough a while ago. Why didn’t you?”

“Do you _want_ him to be a target of the Earl?”

“Target? Why?”

“Well, if he happens to know what he is, the he wouldn’t go back to the Earl anymore.”

“You never explained to me what Noah’s White Memories are.”

“Well…”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Noah’s apparent hatred of God isn’t truly unfounded._

_He despised that decision of destruction through water._

_He angered at the thought that all but them were grounded._

_He abhorred that selfishness that only a God can muster._

_He detested that arrogance that comes with power._

_He believed in God since he was born to the day he died._

_But most of all, he was thankful that he was on the winning side._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What does that mean?”

“It means what it meant.” Neah shrugs. “You won’t truly understand it if you don’t talk to the memory yourself.”

“May I?”

Neah winces. “You wouldn’t enjoy that experience.”

“That bad?”

“Worse.”

“Then no thank you.”

Neah grins in slight relief.

“How does that help in your plan, then?”

“Staying in our white form makes sure our bodies would be able to survive without leeching off of the dark matter. It isolates it somewhere in the stomach so it would be easier and less painful to cancel it out with innocence.”

“The _stomach?_ ”

“Don’t ask me.” Neah raises his hands. “It just works that way.”

“You said Innocence chipped at Dark Matter too, right? Is that why Tyki is—”

“Crushing pieces of Innocence does that to you.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

 “Were you serious?” Cross asks tiredly having had to walk through who knows how many rooms to get back to the Piano Room which was at the centermost and uppermost part of the Ark.

“About making them furious?” Neah asked with a grin. “Oh, dear Marian, I do not kid about that.”

“Um, Neah?” Lala asks timidly. “I don’t quite understand why making then angry is a good thing…”

Neah smiles fondly at his first student. “Well, there’re some people who, when angry, lose all higher brain functions—although there are also some who can channel their anger into something productive. It can work both ways.” He shrugged. “We’re going to make both the Order and the Noah Family very very angry at us. Which I quite feel they are already.”

Overwhelmed, Lala asks, “Isn’t that a bit suicidal?”

“Nope.” Neah assured then blinked. “Well, kind of, but that doesn’t really matter. We’re the only ones with a teleportation device and so long as we’re careful enough, it wouldn’t matter much.”

“What about food?” Cross asks. “I don’t think we’ll be able to feed the Old kid enough food for his stomach.”

“Have you already forgotten, Marian? I’m a _posh Englishman_. I have an inheritance to squander.” Neah says it like that even if it would be the Ark who would feed them for the foreseeable future just to make fun of Cross.

“Then why didn’t you squander it earlier?” Cross asks exasperatedly, thinking back to all those debts he had piled up on and Neah’s too, though his was much less as he had plenty of money to spare with all of his recitals paying more than what Cross earned in a year.

Neah raised an eyebrow. “I made them war funds. We can’t wage war without money, Cross. We may have benefactors, but having backups can’t do us any harm.”

“Fine.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I hear you were looking for me?” Neah says suddenly, making Lavi and Kanda draw their weapons. Lenalee wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Neah!” Lavi cheers. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Neah grins. “I know.”

“Why didn’t you talk to us then?” Lavi whines.

“Well, you had secret escorts that didn’t want you bothered.”

Kanda’s eyes narrow. “Crows?”

Neah hums affirmatively. “I needed to, _ah_ , deal with them.”

“Did you kill them?” Lavi asks in surprise. “I never pegged you to be the psychopathic murderer type. Who laughs like a maniac while repeatedly stabbing someone.”

Neah sent him a _look._ “They’re just somewhere in the middle of the desert, I’ll have you know.”

“So _that’s_ where you’ve been hiding! The Ark! No wonder we couldn’t find you! I suspected, but…”

“Ding. Ding. Ding!” Neah sings. “You got it right!”

“What made you talk to us?” Kanda asks suspiciously.

“Let’s just say, that we’ve already hatched a plan which has been in the works since 35 years ago.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Would you like to come with us?” Neah asks Miranda and Krory with a sharp knowing gaze. Their music wouldn’t lie.

“W-where?” She stuttered. “This place is already home but… I want to be with the people more than the place… and…”

Neah thanks her with a smile and turns to Krory in askance.

Krory smiles sadly. “Eliade thanked you, Sir Neah. Did you know that?”

Neah blinked and bit back the “Just Neah, Please” at the edge of his tongue. “She thanked me?”

“She said that you made her realize something. I had no idea what she meant but I extend my gratitude to you as well. I would like to join your cause. It seems like the best choice to make.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You mean were going to—”

Neah nods gleefully.

“You’re enjoying this way too much.” Allen sighs.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_You have penpals?_

_Allen flushes._

_Why not? They’re friends!_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

 “So what is this plan of yours?” Lavi asks curiously as he eyes everybody present.

Neah’s demeanor suddenly turns serious. “Well, the Order has always impressed upon the importance of religion, right? Well, most of the people working for them know nothing else but the indoctrinations fed to them. Or just their greed, but those cases are easier to find since they don’t actually know how to hide their intentions well enough.”

Lenalee nods hesitantly. “Well there are a lot of cases. Like me and Kanda. I had a family before this and… well…”

Neah puts up a hand to stop her. “You don’t need to force yourself Lenalee-san.”

She nods quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“We’re going to put everything to doubt. Like what the skeptics of history did.” Neah declares.

“How?” Lavi frowns. “This isn’t the first time that people tried to change the church system. They were all charged with Heresy and were dispatched by Crows.”

Neah smirks. “Well, we have lots of influential benefactors backing us up. I wasn’t idle all these years after all.”

Allen’s eyes widen in realization. “So _that_ was what your frequent errands were! You were building power bases!”

Neah smiles in affirmation. “I won’t be able to name them all, but I do have a list.”

“What power bases?” Lavi asks.

“Well,” Neah begins. “The Heart has supporters in the form of religious followers, Innocence wreaks havoc in places where their influences reach, Akuma destroy lives. I make sure the aftermath of each situation is beneficial to our cause.”

“How do you do that?” Lenalee tilts her head.

Neah was about to speak, but Cross—who had just arrived—beat him to it. “He has this _speech_ written up that he obsessed over. He gives variations of those speeches to people willing to listen, People you save from an inch of death usually make sure the person they’re indebted to are repaid in more than full.”

“Hey! I helped some of those people out of the goodness of my heart!” Neah protests.

Cross raises an eyebrow. “ _You_ have _goodness_ in your _heart_? That thing is blacker than burnt coal.”

Neah huffs.

“So that was why you had us remember all of the people we helped before—which I already do anyway.” Lavi grins. “Very devious.”

Allen frowns. “He said that to you? How come no one ever told me to do that?”

Neah chuckles. “You were actually the inspiration for that.”

Allen flushes. “W-what?”

“You already keep a list on you, right? With Timcanpy?”

Allen squawks indignantly. “That’s an invasion of privacy!”

“If you didn’t want your privacy to be invaded, then why did you put the info in Tim when you know Cross and I can find anything we want there?”

“But you never do that!” Allen protests weakly.

“I just did.” Neah grins insolently. Allen gave him a withering glare.

“We’re getting off topic. The plan?” Kanda gruffs out.

“Ah yes.” Neah states. “We’re just building power bases and forts for now.”

“Then?” Allen prompts.

“Provocation.” Neah holds up two fingers and starts counting. “Uprising of the masses, overthrowing greedy rulers, whatever goes there. There are more concise plans written up and burned. We’re going to have to gather all the Noahs in one place. Also, Cross has been working on neutralizing Akumas for quite a while now. You’ve finished it, haven’t you?”

Cross grunts affirmatively. Unsurprised that Neah already knew he’s finished.

“There’s a catch though, isn’t there?”

Cross nods. “It’s going to need lots of magic to work. Even you and your impressive reserves wouldn’t be able to pull it off. The magic also has to be innocence. Otherwise we’re going to have a lot of destroyed souls on our hands.” There was a collective grimace.

Lavi frowns. “What will you do about the power vacuum? There will be anarchy if you don’t manage to fill that void of power.”

Neah dismissed the concern. “There are several people more qualified to think about that more than us. We aren’t exactly politically savvy. The person I know isn’t _good_ in the barest of terms. He’s just a type of chess player who’s very concerned about the wellbeing of his pieces. He would be a good leader. My gut tells me so.”

“Does he have a name?”

Neah nodded.

“Well? What’s his name?” Lavi prompts impatiently.

“Tyki Mikk.”

Mixed reactions came from his audience. Some looked outright outraged, some looked thoughtful while other reactions were well into neutral territory.

“You’re joking.” Lavi states. “Your crazy doppelganger dude?”

“He’s good at these kinds of things apparently.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Will you help us?_

_It does seem like a lot of fun._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How long do you think this will take?” Lavi groans in exhaustion. “The Ark is helpful and all, but there are so many people we’ve helped what with all the missions we’ve go on!”

Lenalee hits him upside the head. “ _We_ have a lot to do? So what? Have you _seen_ Neah’s or Cross’s list?”

Lavi blanched. “Well, good thing we’ve only been at this for eight or less years, right? Unlike them, who has _at least_ two decade’s worth of acquaintances to talk to.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Innocence, Dark Matter, they’re why this world is filled with all these supernatural phenomena._

_How will we be able to help?_

_You have to let everyone know about this secret war. Everyone must be informed of this._

_So just start rumors and state facts about those things you told us about?_

_Exactly. Will that be possible?_

_She looks at him in annoyance._

_Of course it’ll be easy. Old ladies are the best at these._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Wouldn’t they be charged of heresy for saying such things?” Allen wonders aloud.

Neah hums. “That’s why there are a lot of them. When people start talking about things at the same time, you wouldn’t be able to pinpoint what the sources are, and being a religious organization, they wouldn’t be able to just dispatch troops to quarantine all those who talk about it or they’ll face a large revolt and mass spreading of doubt. If they actually go through with it, the better for us.”

“Wouldn’t that be hard to dispel, though?” Allen prods on. “I mean, lots of people go to church periodically. Wouldn’t the pastor’s sermons prevent doubt from spreading or even just mitigate it a bit?”

Neah shakes his head. “Even if there are those religious people, if people from within the Church start to doubt it—and we have a lot of people there—the others would be more easily swayed. Some of the people we helped didn’t believe us at first, right?”

Allen nods. “It’s very hard to believe until you see it for yourself after all.”

“Seeds of doubt will be planted in everyone’s hearts and they start to question what in really good and what is really bad.”

“Then what stops them from just approaching the Earl?”

“You underestimate human beings, my dear nephew. They can be cruel in more ways than one.”

“What do you mean?”

Neah hums thoughtfully. “The Earl approached you right? What was the first things you felt?”

“ _Rage_.” Allen replied without even thinking, this his eyes light up in realization.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_The Unknown is feared,_

_The feared is hated,_

_[What do you do when confronted by things that disgusts you?]_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What about panic?”

Neah grins. “Of course, we’ll have to provide them with heroes to fight these ‘villains’.”

Allen starts and horror dawned on his face as he realized the implications. “ _Oh no_. I am _not_ going to—”

“With that flashy suit, mask and cape, you’re the perfect candidate!”

Allen didn’t win that argument.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“How many people have we gathered?” Cross asks.

They were gathering allies, and their base of operations was the Ark.

“We’re passing the third quarter count.” Neah grins. “That’s so much more than what we expected.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Base of Operations?” Neah blinks.

Lavi grins. “Yep. Can we call the Ark, HQ?”

“No.” Neah refuses flatly. “The Ark is the Ark.”

“Why so stingy?” Lavi whines. “HQ sounds much more official!”

“There’s already a place called HQ, Lavi.” Neah sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose. He really didn’t have the strength to put up with Lavi’s antics after globe-trotting and convincing all those that needed to be convinced.

“But it’s not our HQ.” Lavi pouted. “Oh, then what about Home Base? Central Command?  Oh! Oh! Starboard! GHQ!”

Neah raises a brow at the odd name. “No.”

“But—”

“Or I’ll make you a real rabbit, Lavi.”

Lavi pales. “You can do that?”

Neah grins in amusement. “Would you like to find out?”

Lavi fled the room faster than even Lenalee in her Dark Boots.

Having Magic was such a boon sometimes.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_How many towns and cities does this make?_

_I think we’re at the thirty count now._

_So, we’re winning over the people then?_

_It’s all going according to their plans._

_Don’t let your guard down. No plan survives first contact with the enemy._

_It’s a good thing we’re good at improvising then._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“It’s too quiet.” Neah notes.

Cross‘s lips purse. “It is.”

“We’re not the only ones making power bases.” Neah infers grimly. “We’re going to need more trump cards.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Alma?” Neah frowns. “Isn’t that—”

Cross nods gravely. “This is bad.”

“What happened?” Allen prompted.

“Alma Karma’s been taken by the Earl.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Smiles and laughter_

_Love and worship_

_I’m afraid all these stories add up to a single tragedy._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Do we need to tell Kanda?” Allen asks wearily.

“I think so.” Neah replies steadily. “I don’t want him to suffer more than he already has. He’s already healing from his wounds, but I’m afraid reopening them wouldn’t be much worse than letting them rip open in the most inopportune moment. Trust goes both ways after all.”

“I know!” Allen bites his lip. “It’s just…”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Reopening wounds whose stitches haven’t healed?_

_No. More like ripping them open._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“… Alma..?” Kanda whispers.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Would you be able to not hate the order after what it did to us?_

_Then why do you still—_

_We **died**._

_Then that’s it? Regrets?_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“K-Kanda—” A crumbling voice rasps. “—do you— _forgive me?_ ”

A lotus wilts.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Did they really do those horrible things to those exorcists?_

_Yes. And it’s still going on._

_How!?_

_The Egg._

_But it_ ’s _still completely whole, isn’t it?_

_You underestimate the order too much, my dear nephew._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So what is _he_ doing here?” Cross points out rudely, eyeing the closed room where Kanda had brought Alma to. Neah had the decency to lock it with only Kanda as the one who could open it.

Neah smiles sadly. “He doesn’t have much time.”

Cross sighs. “You’ve gotten soft, Neah.”

Neah blinks, his eyes darkening a fraction. “Have I?”

Cross stares at him. “I take it back.”

Neah’s lips quirk.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_So Wisely wasn’t lying?_

He’s _already incarnated?_

_A grimace._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What happened to Mr. Alma?” Lala asks confusedly.

Neah hums. “He… left.”

“Just like that?” Lala blinks.

Neah grins. “A lot can happen in three days. You weren’t the only one who was busy.”

Lala pouts. It wasn’t her fault there was suddenly an influx of the injured right after a battle.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_So what really happened to Alma?_

_He—_ she— _died._

_Happy?_

_I can only surmise._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“We can’t let this go on any longer!”  Dreams rages. “He already broke up our family once, we shouldn’t let him get his way ever again!”

“He’s family!” Creation roars.

“No.” Wisdom states. “I don’t think he can be counted as family anymore.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_When we first met, you said Dreams was stronger than you. Does that still hold?_

_There’s a chance. I’m not the only one who’s grown stronger with time._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Neah winced as an earsplitting sound reached his sensitive ears. Then horror dawns on his face as he realized what that meant. He hastened to the piano room and started to play furiously as he tried to tell everyone what was happening.

“Marian! Dreams is trying to get through the barrier! I don’t think I’ll be able to hold her back if she continues to go through it this way!”

Marian cursed as he starts ordering everyone and just organizing them.

“Can you tell Tyki—” Neah absently notes that he had called the man by his name even as he tried to monopolize his control on the Ark. “—that he’s needed up here?”

“He’s not on the Ark. I’ve got reports that he was detained just a few minutes ago by the Noah of Desire.”

Neah cursed. “Can you send him some backup? I think Lavi would be able to get along well with him when they aren’t trying to kill each other.”

Marian only sent a quick affirmation.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“We should have known you were a traitor.” Pity screams. “Why are you doing this, Joido?”

Tyki scoffs. “Have you never seen yourself? You don’t have balance, nor do any of you in the Family. _You go against the whole principle I stand for!_ ”

Ability frowns. “Why do you side with them?”

“What can I say,” Tyki drawls as he sends swarms of his Teez at the pair and sunk as far underground as his powers would allow. “It’s much more interesting to see things from a different angle.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Akuma are swarming the outside of the Ark! There are civilians down there!” A scientist frazzledly informs them.

“We’re on it!” Lenalee affirms as she activated her ‘crystal-type’ Innocence, Lavi following her with a large jar of something strapped to his back.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“We’ve got reports of akuma and exorcist activity above the Himalayas, Inspector.”

Leverrier clenched his jaw. “Who’s on site?”

“Tiedoll and his apprentices, sir.”

“Send them to interfere.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“I’ll finally be able to actually use my magic in a fight!” Lavi cheers—smashing a Level One with his large hammer—and Lenalee sent him an annoyed glance.

“This isn’t a game, Lavi!”

Lavi grins sheepishly. “Sorry. I’m just a little excited. I’m much better than I was when we were at Edo.”

Lenalee pursed her lips. “You aren’t the only one. I don’t doubt that there are much worse enemies outside.”

“Look, Jasdero! They’re going to be fun to play with, aren’t they?” The Noah of Bonds grin as they looked down on the two exorcists on their perches.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Your Innocence works with Stamps, doesn’t it?_

_A reluctant nod._

_Well, are there only simple stamps?_

_Well, with Ink as your medium, I think we can figure something out._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Kanda stared at Alma’s peacefully happily sleeping form and took a deep breath. There’s no time for hesitation now.

_I’ll cut down everything that wants to harm this world._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Streams of pure Innocence sprouted from where Lavi had activated one of the Stamps he had painstakingly created in his free time and launched themselves at record speed on the Noah of Bonds. The Twins mockingly avoided the Streams with a simple vertical jump and Lavi hit the stamp again, making the streams follow them both like a guided missile.

Lenalee was taking care of the Level ones and twos that were encroaching on the deserted stone built town with a speed that everyone who might have been watching not see her but only flashes of light green at every impact.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_It’s stirring._

_The Heart’s Soldier._

_She does not have a champion now._

_Champions imply a warrior able of decisions._

_Soldiers… they have thought. However, orders are absolute._

_The Heart has tired of going through champions just to prevail in this unending war._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Neah, are you okay?” Allen asked in worry.

“Not now.” Neah grit out as he started a fast _run_ on the piano, his fingers going both accelerando and crescendo as he tried to fend off Dreams. “It might not look it, but this is tiring.”

Allen steeled himself and prodded Neah to move so that they could share the bench. Neah almost faltered but the Allen started pushing his own magic and Innocence to his fingers as he pushed his first chord. He’d monitor the doors in Neah’s stead. This was much much more important than downing a few more akumas that the others could down.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Learning to play a piano is hard enough, but you’re telling me that I have to do magic_ while _playing?_

_How would you be able to help me if you don’t?_

_You’re a sadist, Neah._

_It takes one to know one._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

Krory grimaced as he stared at the blood spear he had created with his own blood. He speared through his enemies without hesitation while just beyond him, right in front of a door to the Ark, Cross was firing from Judgment with consecutive and almost simultaneous shots, reloading every eight shots. Nobody who couldn’t wield Innocence or magic was allowed beyond the Ark.

“Two Noahs are reported to be en route to this area, General Cross!” One of the finders who had gone with them informed.

“They might get in the Ark, Sir Cross!” Krory cries.

Cross clicks his tongue and puts a hand to his ear. “Neah. We need you to close all the doors.”

“ _No._ ” It was all Neah said on the matter. “ _Dreams is getting tired. Just fall back. Once you enter the door, rap on the door twice and it’ll shatter on its own. We just need five more minutes._ ”

Cross nods. “Fall back! We’re retreating! We’ll cover your escapes!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Retreating?” Lavi blinks, sporting several wounds that would need to be tended to as soon as possible. “Are all the civilians evacuated?”

Lenalee, in almost the same condition as Lavi, pursed her lips. “As much as we can. There are others who were killed in the crossfire.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“We’ll need to regroup. Is everyone doing their jobs?” Neah asked. “Cross is much better at these things than I am.”

Allen nodded as he flipped through the reports that were flowing by the boatload to the Central Tower that they had decided to be the center of operations for the Ark.

“This is bad.” Neah paces. “What established territories does the Earl have?”

“He’s taken most of Asia under him. Russia’s holding nicely against the assault though. They’re holding well enough that they’re actually pushing borders now.”

“I take it one of the groups vying for control had somehow had magic or Innocence of some sort under their sleeve?”

Allen nodded. “They’ve developed some sort of technology that allows them to store White Energy and blast them after storage.”

“Tyki, what’s the news on the other side of the world?”

“I’m doing the best I can to gather support.” Tyki huffs. “They’re just stubborn. These people don’t want to believe that war is on the horizon.”

Neah’s eyes hooded. “Well, until the first attack, I don’t think they’ll be receptive of any form of help. We can only wait.”

“We’ll help the Russians I doubt whoever accommodator they managed to suck dry would be able to last long.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Lord Tyki Mikk. I was not expecting you.” Russian ambassador Lyvik Alchenkov smiled, both of them having two bodyguards on either side.

“Indeed. I hear your country is faring well with regards to the attempted invasion four days ago.” Tyki drawls lightheartedly, in unaccented Russian.

Lyvik’s smile became strained. “Ah. I’m afraid it’s a National Secret. Even for one as prestigious as you will not be an exception to the matter.”

“I’m afraid you have it wrongly.” Tyki’s smile became mischievous. “ _I_ am the one who has the information you might need.”

Lyvik looked subtly offended at the words, having taken pride that of all the countries, Russia had managed to keep the Akuma at bay. His mouth twisted momentarily but an obviously forced smile made its way to his face. “I’m afraid this discussion is over. I have—”

Tyki stood up with no rush, slowly and predatorily, his skin leisurely losing its paleness, his forehead giving way to the stigmata that decorated all the Noahs and his dark eyes slowly bleeding to a striking golden hue.

Lyvik and his bodyguards were suddenly on guard. “Wh-what _are_ you?”

“As I’ve said, I’m only here to help. I wouldn’t like the whole world to be dominated by such a close-minded tyrant. I’m acting on my best interests.”

“What do you want?” Lyvik gulps.

“Your cooperation.” Tyki smiles, all teeth. One of the bodyguards he brought with him suddenly threw off his hood and sighed in exasperation.

“ _He_ told me to let you do what you think was necessary but transforming?” Allen closed his eyes and mentally counted to ten. “Nice to meet you, Lord Alchenkov.”

Tyki glances at the ambassador with a smile. “This is Allen Walker, a specialist in the energy you’ve been using as a repellant of those Akumas.”

Lyvik realizes his position and hastens to give a short bow of acknowledgement. “W-walker? You wouldn’t happen to be related to Neah Walker by any chance?”

Allen blinked in surprise, though really he should have expected this. “He’s my Uncle. How are acquainted?”

“He was the reason why we are managing this well.” Lyvik seemed to steel himself and with a renewed sense of determination stood up. Allen wondered what that was about. “Would you mind if I called my supervisor for this?”

“Not at all.” Tyki replies pleasantly.

The ambassador spoke to his phone in low, rushed Russian in a dialect that Allen hadn’t studied, but judging from Tyki’s face, he did.

“We’ll welcome the help you can offer.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You didn’t tell us that you had acquaintances in Russia.” Tyki mentions offhandedly a few days later.

Allen and several scientists they won over—like Johnny and Tapp—had been assigned to work with the Russian scientists for the Innocence. It seemed like they managed to create some sort of barrier made with Innocence that the Akuma couldn’t pass through unless they wanted to be eliminated. Allen had estimated that if all 109 Innocence shards were fused together, they might be able to protect the whole Asian Continent.

“Anyone in Russia who might have met me are already dead.” Neah replies flatly. “Though it seems they might have mentioned me to some people and my name is still being passed around.”

“What did you do?” Allen asked curiously.

“I helped them overthrow the government.” Neah replies blithely.

“When was this?”

Neah opened his mouth to reply then says, “You know, I don’t remember. I just remember running a lot.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_I can’t believe you’re siding with me now, Noah._

_I’m just against the greater of two evils._

_Then I shall send you aid, Should you betray this trust—_

_Why trust me at all?_

_My soldier cannot handle a whole army by himself, even if he is powerful._

_You admit to powerlessness then?_

_The earth shook._

_Throwing temper tantrums now? How childish._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What about the advancing armies that the Earl keeps on sending west? I’m getting reports that he’s even sending some of those eastward. We can’t let them ravage and gain more Akumas.” Cross blows a puff of smoke, placing his cigarette back in his mouth.

Neah seemed pensive.

“Neah?”

“I have a plan, but I don’t think anyone will like it at all.”

Cross scoffs. “This is war. We don’t always do things everyone will like.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“What do you mean Neah’s been captured!?” Allen almost shouts.

Most of the Innocence wielders were in the piano room with the exception of Lala as she was dealing with the injured in one of the houses in the Ark.  Cross looked as haggard as everyone else in the room. The war was taking its toll on them.

“This whole war hinges on his wellbeing, doesn’t it?”

“Allen, calm down.” Cross sighs.

“What do you mean _calm down?_ Neah’s out there being tortured or whatever else the Earl might think of! How can we just—”

“He planned to be captured.” Cross stated.

“That suicidal—”

“He’s leading Apocryphos to the Earl’s base.”

“Isn’t that the Heart’s soldier?” Lavi inquires in surprise.

“He’s on _our_ side?” Lenalee asked doubtfully.

“They’re going to cancel each other out. The rest is going to follow.”

“So smashing the heart with the Earl means the end?”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_You know what to do, Heart._

_Will this end it all?_

_They why the sacrifice?_

_It will end the light and dark, but nature is strong._

_Magic will still exist, then._

_What guarantees that this longstanding war will not repeat?_

_Nothing. We can only have faith._

_Faith was what got us here, Noah._

_And Faith will be what restores us._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**_Light swallowed everything, spanning the entirety of the world,_ **

**_battles raging on ceased due to the sheer amount of power generated._ **

**_Screams of terror, cries of gratitude._ **

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**_The story is just beginning._ **

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**_._ **

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**Omake:**

**(1)**

Neah dismissed the concern. “There are several people more qualified to think about that more than us. We aren’t exactly politically savvy. The person I know isn’t _good_ in the barest of terms. He’s just a type of chess player who’s very concerned about the wellbeing of his pieces. He would be a good leader. My gut tells me so.”

“Does he have a name?”

Neah nodded.

Lavi waited.

Neah stayed silent.

Lavi’s eye twitched.

Neah was _still_ not saying anything.

“Well? What’s his name?” Lavi prompts impatiently. Neah starts (he fell asleep apparently)

“Lavi Bookman.” Neah says the first name that comes to mind then winks.

“ _What!?_ ”

**(2)**

“Mana!” Neah coughs through thick smoke. “Mana!”

Debris was falling and he was sure that Mana was still inside! He had to hurry! He couldn’t lose him! Mana was the only family he had left! Then he saw it.

A block of burning wood was about to fall on him! He willed himself to remember any protection spell, any! It probably wouldn't work...

He screams, diving into the energy reserves he had and pushes them out with as much will and intent as he could... as the block of wood fell and fell.

Then it landed on him with a soft ‘thump’.

“ **CUT!** ” The Director shouts.

“Neah!” Mana rushed over and fretted. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did you break any bones? Allen! Where were you?”

“No one told me I had a scene!” Allen protests by the door of the set.

Neah gives a muffled reassurance. “Hmmfffine.”

“Take him to the infirmary!”

**(3)**

“Oi! Get me away from these flowers! The scenes are already done aren’t they!? Oi! Neah!”

“Oh. You got out of them a while ago didn’t you? You can do it again!” Neah says brightly.

Allen cursed.

**(4)**

**There’s still an epilogue waiting for us, I’m just going to have to bring out the things to a head and conclude things finally.**

**This was a just supposed to be a one-shot, but it got out of hand, sooo…. Haha. XD**

**For those who didn’t understand: (Note that this isn’t canon and only applies to this story alone.)**

**1\. Neah had managed to ‘enchant’ the Ark when he sieged the Noahs, meaning, he’d be able to control it once he _got_ to the control room. _His_ control room. The Noahs had been downloading the Ark to recreate it, so his control is limited if he still wanted his anonymity to remain—which would have been the source of the tragedy if he had been revealed too early.**

**2\. In canon, people will become a Fallen when they betray their Innocence which translates to the Black Order. Here, however, since the Innocence have more than Just the Heart’s consciousness in them, but all of the other sentient beings, each one’s ‘betrayal’ will vary. Some of the Heart’s Champions did not like how the Heart operated and thought, but the others thought the world of the Heart, so it really varies. Suman’s Innocence just happened to be aligned to the heart, unfortunately for him.**

**3\. Natural magic stems from natural matter. Living things, animals, humans. Light Matter comes from those pieces of the Heart’s Whole.** **J** **Dark Matter is the opposite.**

**4\. On Tyki and Neah’s appearances. Four people in canon said that Neah and Tyki looks exactly alike—Wisely, Road, Allen and the Earl—so I have a bit of a hard time visualizing them talking, did you have a hard time too? It’s like two versions of them, the other one just a bit older. Their personalities aren’t that different, too. Neah’s just a bit lighter and driven—here in this story. Tyki’s a lot more lax and drawly than Neah.**

**5\. On the Heart’s _Champions._ They mean the Heart’s previous wielders. Auguste was the first, if you hadn’t already caught on to that. And 7000 years had passed and it’s most likely that the Heart had existed way before the Earl did. Neah’s goal was to fuse all Innocence and Dark matter together so that they would destroy each other and to cease their existence would mean the end to those tragic supernatural happenings in the world. Natural Magic would remain, but that’s for another story. **

**6\. The instance where Neah was wielding Allen’s sword. Hm. Maybe he just borrowed it during the fight with the Earl, because Allen was injured or knocked out or something? It’s very likely. XD That’s my headcanon for it anyway, unless Hoshino-sensei somehow manages to continue her wonderful work. :)**

**7\. How did it end? Er. Well, somehow Neah convince the Heart to explode itself on the world while taking all the Dark matter with it. That’s what happened. Anticlimactic right? I couldn’t think of anything else that would suit the whole rising tension thing than an explosion and I’m a pyromaniac by heart so... XD**

**WHO WANTS A SEQUEL?**

**Then…. Make it yourself!** **J** **I’d love to read it. I made this so that a sequel is unlikely though. It’s pretty closed up, though some oneshots would probably go up sometime somewhen. XD**

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

**A/N as of September 7, 2015:**

**SO it updated. IT UPDATED. FUDGE. That made me fangirl so much. Well, now I can safely say that this is completely AU now, haha. Anyway. Thanks for reading (Epilogue will come up sooner or later, most probably later since I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to study now, college things and all)**


	5. Epilogue

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Here Lies Lala Walker_

_Esteemed Friend_

_Gentle Doctor_

_Soulful singer_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_“_ What are you doing here? _”_

“Paying respects, what else?”

“They had one large shrine at HQ, why not there?”

A shake of the head. “There aren’t any bodies there. I want to pay my respects properly.”

“It’s been almost a year now, to the day.”

“Yes.” A small smile. “It was quite exciting wasn’t it?”

“What’s Neah doing now?”

“I’m not quite sure. He’s probably just lazing around and baffling people everywhere.”

“And Cross?”

“I think he went with him.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You lied.” Lala laughs out.

Neah gave a grin. “You already developed your own magic, so I don’t see why you’re supposed to die.”

“I never did understand how your mind works.” Lala huffs. “Why did you never say...?”

Neah didn’t reply but instead said, “So are you going to surprise them?”

“What else am I going to do?” Lala smiles, already used to the abrupt topic shifting that Neah was so fond of. “I think that I’ve imposed myself on your company too much already.”

Neah ruffled her hair. She was the closest anyone could get to being his daughter it was almost funny considering that Lala was older than Neah by at least two hundred years.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“You know, I should be angry at you.” Road points out as she lay on the soft green grass on a river bank. Her skin was a pale pink but darker as she basked in the sunlight. She had to remind herself that she didn’t have Dark Matter to aid her anymore.

Tyki hums as he then blew a stream of smoke from his pipe.

“You know, you destroyed everything that Millennie was working toward…”

“And why aren’t you?” Tyki asks with a raised brow.

“I was stuck in a body of a prepubescent girl.” Road deadpans. “One would think that I actually want to grow some curves.”

Tyki chokes.

“Prude.” Road accuses.

“I was just surprised.” Tyki said in defense and huffed at Road’s sarcastic “Of course.”

“What are we going to do now?”

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to go to a proper school.” Road grins. “I think that newly established Catholic school in Scotland needs a little bit of terrorizing.”

“Not all religions are like the Black Order, Road.”

Road pouts. “But it’s soo much fun!”

“ _TYYYYKIIIIII! What are you doing to my beloved Road!?_ ” Sheryl howls from the balcony.

Tyki starts to run.

He didn’t get very far.

Sometimes he really missed dark matter.

(But when he thought about it… not really.)

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_We’ve all changed haven’t we?_

_From when we started, we were untested._

_And now? I think I need sunglasses to see how polished we all became._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Where are we going now, old panda?”

Bookman stayed silent for a while.

Lavi waited.

“There are still a lot of events that are going to be needed to be recorded here.”

“After-war, huh? This is the worst part of it all isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Bookman replied crisply. “Yet also the happiest.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

 “Lenalee?” Komui asked as he peeked into her room at HQ.

“Brother? What brings you here? I thought you were busy with recovery efforts?”

“I was thinking… that maybe after all of this, we could go somewhere and start anew.”

Lenalee blinks, then giggles.

Komui frowns slightly. “Why are you laughing?”

“Silly, silly brother. We’re already _home,_ aren’t we?”

“But—”

“How long do you think this whole thing is going to go on? I know that it will be quite a long and tiring years before we could even hope to think about leaving, brother.”

“I know.”

“Yes, then.” Lenalee smiles. “How about China? I think we’ve seen too little of our home country.”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_War is a prelude to peace._

_Peace is a prelude to war._

_But looking at this now,_

_It’s doubtful that this prelude will end so soon._

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Krory-sama!”

Krory blinked as he registered the villagers that welcomed him back to his town. What..? His sharp teeth had gone together with the innocence and he had normal ones now. N the time he spent running around on his missions had actually given him a slight tan. He almost looked like a normal person now, if a bit on the aristocratic-pale side.

“Welcome back!”

Krory frowned. “What brought this on?”

“We’re really sorry for isolating you!” One of the priests babbles, a little shakily—he looked almost scared. “Lord Neah had come by a while ago and explained everything.”

Krory almost smiled. “Ah.”

“Thank you for protecting us!” One of the villagers shouted.

He had only come back to pay his respects to Eliade, but it seems like he got so much more.

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“So where do you want to go from here?” Thee Head Nurse asks.

“I-I don’t really have anywhere to go.” Miranda stutters.

The Head Nurse’s eyes softened. “Would you like to learn about medicine? I know that there really wasn’t enough time during the war since you had a lot on your plate, but—”

Miranda’s eyes were watering and the nurse felt somewhat lost.

“May I please?”

“Of course.” The Head Nurse assured gently, then with a more drill sergeant’s tone, “Now, that that’s said, I’ll see you in the infirmary in a _fortnight_.”

Miranda nodded vigorously. “Thank you, Head Nurse! I’ll do my best!”

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

_Your time is limited now, Noah._

_I’ve cheated Death enough times as it is._

_Yet Death still favors you._

_What can I say? It’s a part of my charm._

_Such arrogance._

_(Yet there was no bite to the words)_

**o-o-o-o-o-o**

“Let’s play Exorcists and Akumas!”

“I’ll be _Neah!_ ”

“But _I_ wanted to be Neah!”

“Then you could just be that other guy. Cross!”

“But he’s not as awesome!”

“ _He_ has a cool gun!”

“But Neah has _magic._ ”

“Magic is for sissies anyway!”

“Hah! Fight all you want mortals! _I’ll_ be the Millenium Earl!” A little girl with a fluffy teddy bear declares pompously, her eyes glinting in the sunlight. “I will feed your souls to the AKUMA!”

Then the children ran around.

Allen chuckles as he passed the little kids.

It’s been a while since the threat of the world’s imminent destruction had crossed his mind. Allen, was after all, quite busy with the war relief operations that people from all around the world were helping with.

“Need a lift?” Neah asked as he popped his head out of a gate.

Allen snorts. “Really? I _can_ open a door on my own, you know.”

Neah grins. “What’s the fun in that?”

Allen sighs. “Where are we going?”

Neah hums as he fully stepped out of the door. “Italy, maybe?”

“Italy?”

“Or maybe Hawaii. They weren’t really affected by the whole war except on the economic scale. So.”

“You’re not going to help?” Allen blinks. “I thought you were _nice._ ”

Neah sighs dramatically. “I think we’ve helped way too much already. Besides… I really want a pineapple right now and where else to get the best than the source itself? I hear their pineapples are notoriously sweet there.”

Allen pinches the bridge of his nose then his shoulders shook.

Neah blinks. “Are you… Are you _laughing?_ ”

Then Allen laughed. “Never change, Neah. Never change.”

“What is _that_ supposed to mean?”

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

_All stories have an ending,_

_But life is one where end means death, so—_

_We’ll continue forward until the day we draw our last breath,_

_And we will live._

_And start over again._

**o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o**

.

.

.

**fin.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I think I've already uploaded this chapter in ffnet ages ago and just kept forgetting to put it up here on ao3 so here it is. 
> 
> I'm trying to polish this one into something better, maybe lengthen it a bit by adding more scenes in between some of the linebreaks, maybe even fleshening out the things that I neglected to, just because. Maybe even arrange the formatting properly. So if you want to see the finished product, tell me and I'll repost everything, haha. Someday. Dunno when. Though I can't honestly say if it'll be good since I've probably read this work more than fifty times by now. XD 
> 
> As of May 11, 2016, without all the author's notes and garbage probably none of you read, the Fickle Fate in my files has hit ~36,000 words.


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